Rival Survival
by D3strud0
Summary: After a weekend away Lilly returns with some news. Unfortunately it's not exactly the dance in celebration kind. As things unfold Miley becomes flustered with an oncoming chain of events & struggles to understand her own feelings while keeping Lilly safe.
1. Chapter 1

There was a knock on Miley's bedroom door. Miley was inside, organizing her books and things into her shelve. "Come in!" She called out, well aware who was on the other side. She did her best to hold in her anticipation.

Lilly opened the door and stepped into the room. Miley lit up, a wide grin crossing her face. "Hey Lilly!" She set her books down on her desk and walked to her friend to give her a hug. "How was visiting your dad?"

"Good," Lilly answered as they both pulled away from their hug. She looked nervous. "Dad's got this new girlfriend he's moved in with. She has a kid our age."

"Oh?" Miley cocked her brow as she turned to continue seeming occupied, organizing her books. "Boy or girl?"

Lilly looked away. "Boy."

A pause.

"Was he cute?" Miley asked in a voice that sounded odd to her.

"Kind of," Lilly stammered, "I mean, not really my type but he's not ugly or anything,"

Miley nodded, noting Lilly's odd behavior. "Hm. Is something on your mind? You seem a little..."

"Okay...it's like this..." Lilly sighed, and then took a deep breath. She finally looked up at Miley, a scared look on her face. "Miley... I had sex,"

Miley dropped the stack of books she was carrying, but seem unphased by the loud crash they made as they hit the floor. She turned to Lilly to make sure she had heard her right. Lilly was back to looking at the ground.

"O-oh..." Miley had to sit down, her head felt like it was spinning with a handful of different emotions. Seating herself on the edge of her bed she blinked, and glanced up at Lilly. "With... the... dad's girlfriend's son?"

Lilly nodded, looking as if she was being scolded.

"So... you.. what... huh?" Miley could no longer form a valid sentence or question.

Lilly sighed again, seeing Miley's struggle. "Dad and his mom went out to dinner, so it was just him and me," She spoke slowly, as if having difficulty, "He brought out some alcohol.. and... I don't know, it was weird. He started acting funny and grabbing me and stuff,"

Miley closed her eyes, "Wait," She opened them again, "Lilly did you actually want to... have... sex? With him?"

"Uh, well..." Lilly creased her brow, trying to think how to answer. "I mean, it wasn't something I would have chosen to do, if it had been up to me.. but I was a little tipsy, and he kept telling me how beautiful I was and going on and on, and I just got swept up in it. He was kinda all over me, and I wanted to tell him to knock it off, but my body just kinda responded, and my brain turned off, and then it just... happened."

Miley desperately wished that her brain wasn't as good at producing mental images as it was. She realized Lilly couldn't think of anything else to say, and she inhaled sharply, knowing it was her turn to speak. She still couldn't sort through her emotions, but she did realize that she felt as if she were burning with jealousy. It confused her. It couldn't have been because Lilly had lost her virginity first. Miley knew something that simple wouldn't, or shouldn't upset her. It was something about the whole situation that felt off. She kept replaying in her mind, this random guy staring into Lilly's eyes, touching her body, kissing her lips...

"Miley?" Lilly's timid voice broke through Miley's racing thoughts. Miley looks up at Lilly, who still looked terrified, and realized she needed to think of something to say.

"O-oh, sorry, I just.. Sorry, I had to take a minute to absorb all that. I wasn't really expecting...that..."

Lilly shifted nervously. "I-it's okay, uhm... You're not mad, are you? You can tell me."

"No!" Miley exclaimed after blinking and shaking her head. She looked up at Lilly again and noticed she was still standing near the door, as if frightened to come further into the room. "Come sit down, we can talk," She patted the space next to her on the edge of the bed.

Lilly hesitated, and then stiffly walked across the room and sat down on the bed. Miley gazed at her, studying her carefully. Lilly felt the intensity of Miley's eyes on her, and couldn't bring herself to meet them.

"So..." Miley did her best not to come off as awkward. "How was it?"

Lilly fiddled with her hands anxiously. "I-it was okay, I guess. I mean... I don't really see what the big deal is. It actually really hurts, and I was just waiting until it was over.." Miley could see the tears in Lilly's eyes, even if Lilly wasn't going to allow them to escape.

Miley rested her hand on Lilly's own restless hands. "I think it would've been different if it had been with someone you really loved. I know, I'm not one to talk, I have no idea, but... It just kinda sounds like this guy took advantage of you, and was thinking more of himself than anything else,"

Lilly nodded, sighing, "Yeah, I know, but I could've stopped him. I just didn't. Ugh, I'm such an idiot. Miles, you can be pissed, it's totally okay."

"Lil, no," Miley frowned, and Lilly finally looked up at Miley when she gave her hand a loving squeeze. "The only thing I'm upset about is that you got taken advantage of, but if you're okay, I guess I can be okay with it. I'm here, for anything and you know it. I just hope you never get put in that situation again." After saying this, Miley realized she was on the verge of becoming overwhelmed with another burst of emotion and pulled Lilly into a hug.

Lilly sighed, feeling Miley's arms around her. Miley was trying her absolute hardest not to cry as more waves of jealousy and confusion rushed through her. She composed herself enough by the time their hug ended.

"So, I have to ask," Miley shifted awkwardly after a pause, "Did you use protection?"

Lilly blushed and looked away, embarrassed, then nodded, "Y-yeah. I more or less told him that there was no way it was going to happen without one,"

"Good," Miley cleared her throat, somewhat relieved, but still bothered by all of it. " She noticed Lilly still seemed to be struggling to say something else and looked as Lilly inquisitively

Lilly exhaled, seeing Miley's look. "Okay, here's the deal.. You know how we have a 3 day weekend at the end of this week?"

"Yeaah...?" Miley spoke slowly, not sure if she liked were this was going.

"My dad got this idea in his head... that his girlfriends son, his name's David... that he should come check out the beach, and stay with my mom and me for the weekend."

Miley's mind had already been thrown back into her rampant racing thoughts. She was not happy about this at all. Even more, she was immensely confused by the fact that she suddenly felt extremely territorial and protective (more than usual) over Lilly, in a very odd way. She couldn't speak.

"Miley? Miley! Hellooo, Earth to Miley!"

The next morning at school, Miley found Lilly sitting at the tables in the quad. She looked lost in thought and didn't see Miley until she taking a seat across from her.

"Morning, Lil, how you doing?" Miley greeted as cheerfully as she could. She had been up all night, restless and confused. When she finally did manage to get to sleep she had had strange dreams, all of which Lilly were in.

Lilly looked up at Miley and smiled lightly. "Hey Miles. I'm okay. How are you?"

"Good!" Miley fibbed. Then, she suddenly couldn't think of anything else to say. Luckily, Oliver saw them and was making his way over.

"Hey ladies!" He took a seat next to Lilly at the table, and immediately noticed the tension coming from Miley's direction. Quickly, he tried to lighten the mood. "I know, I know, it sucks that it's Monday, and we're back in school, but hey! Look at it this way! We get next Monday off! 3 day weekend, baby!" To his surprise, Miley grimaced, and became even more distraught. He decided to change the subject. "So Lil, how was catching up with your pop?"

Lilly swallowed, "It was good. Uh, speaking of all that, as a matter of fact, his new girlfriend's son is coming to visit for the three day weekend. I figured, we could all show him a good time, you know? It might help to have another guy around."

Miley liked this idea. She glanced up at Lilly, who of course, seemed nervous.

"Sure," Oliver replied, grinning. "We can all go out and surf, or something. What kinda guy is he?"

Lilly frowned. "Uh, well I don't know too much about him I only just met him when I went down to visit."

"Oh, okay. No prob, we'll figure it out. I'll find something fun for us to do by the end of the week!" Oliver glanced over at Miley who was obviously agitated.

Miley had more trouble hearing Lilly talk about this than she thought she would. She decided the thing that bothered her most was the fact that Lilly had to talk about all of this like she hadn't slept with the guy.

The bell rang, and all the students started shuffling off to class. The three of them did the same, but Miley hung back, and tugged on Oliver's arm, signaling to stop and wait a minute.

"What's up, Miles?" He lowered his voice. "You seem kinda... annoyed,"

Miley got straight to the point. "Listen, Oliver, I really want your help this weekend, okay? I don't want this guy macking on Lilly,"

Oliver glanced at Lilly, who was entering the classroom. "You sure you're not overreacting Miles? We don't even know the guy, and Lilly's only met him once, he can't be that bad,"

Miley glared at Oliver, letting him know just how serious she was.

Oliver gulped, and nodded. "Sure thing, I'll keep my eyes out. If he ends up being funny, I'll use bro power to distract him or something."

Miley sighed, slightly relieved. "Thanks, Oliver,"

"No prob. We should get to class though,"

"Yeah," He and Miley walked towards the building doors.

It was Wednesday afternoon. Things had settled down, and Miley felt like she had almost come to terms with everything that was going on. She and Lilly were hanging out in her room after school when Lilly's phone buzzed. Miley watched as Lilly reached to open her phone, and couldn't quite decipher the expression that crossed her face.

"Who is it?" Miley couldn't help but ask after she saw Lilly stare blankly at the screen, and then slowly start texting a reply.

Lilly creased her brow, and answered after a brief hesitation. "It's David. I guess my dad gave him my number so we could work out his flight schedule and picking him up at the airport on Friday."

"Oh," Miley said, disheartened. "What time's he flying in?"

"4:30, he says, if the plane's not delayed. My mom doesn't get off work till after 5 so I guess it's up tp me to pick him up," Lilly showed obvious signs of anxiety.

"I can go with you," Miley piped up.

Lilly looked away from her phone after deleting whatever response she had started. "You don't have to Miley. If you don't want to,"

Miley shook her head. "I don't mind. I want to," Like hell she'd let him be alone with Lilly if she could help it.

Lilly smiled softly and looked up at Miley. "Thanks, Miles. You're the best," Miley nearly melted, though she couldn't understand why.

Lilly began attempting to text a new reply. Miley could feel the troubling emotions she thought she was over resurfacing. She flipped open a magazine and pretended to read as Lilly finished her conversation. After a while, the phone stopped buzzing, and Lilly excused herself to use the restroom. Miley found herself staring at Lilly's phone as soon as she had left the room. She knew it was wrong, but the temptation was too much. Quickly, she sprung up and flipped open Lilly's phone. She smiled, as she saw the background image on the screen; a picture of Lilly and her they had taken when they were goofing off on the beach one day, some time ago. Miley was surprised Lilly hadn't changed it since, but she was also happy.

Remembering she didn't have much time, she opened Lilly's text log and opened the conversation with David. She began reading.

David: _Hey! It's Dave! Got ur # from ur dad. I'm all set to fly in at 4:30 on Friday if the flight's on time! :)_

Lilly: _Okay, I will be there to pick u up. I'm bringing my bf Miley with. u'll meet my friend Oliver too, we r all gonna hang out and show u around while ur here._

David: _Bf? I'm hoping u mean best friend and not boyfriend. ;) Haha. _

Lilly: _Miley's my best friend, we pretty much do everything together. She's really awesome._

David: _Cool. Tho I am a little disappointed we won't be by ourselves.. :\ It's okay, I'm sure we'll have more than enough alone time this weekend. ;)_

Lilly: _hah.. my friends are really great, I think you'll like them. Oliver's gonna find something fun for us all to do. _

David: _Now, Oliver's not ur boyfriend, either, right?_

Lilly: _I've know Ollie since we were kids. He's my best pal, after Miley._

David: _Ok just checkin. :) So I'll see you Friday! I can't wait!_

Lilly: _Yeah. Have a safe flight._

Miley shut the phone and set it down where it had been. She was fuming as she went to sit on her best and try to calm herself down. That guy was totally and completely flirting with Lilly, and hinting that he wanted to hook up with her again. Miley wanted to scream. She buried her face in her pillow.

Just then, Lilly came back in. She saw Miley, laying on the bed with her face pressed to the pillow. She walked over and sat down next to Miley. "Hey, you okay Miley?"

"Mmph," Miley grunted into the pillow. "Yeah. This pillow... just smells great... we bought new fabric softener." She was making sure there were no tears escaping from her eyes before she prepared to sit back up.

Lilly laughed, "You're so cute, Miles,"

Her words made Miley excited, which frustrated her even more. Just as she was about to rise, Lilly did something that made Miley never want to move again.

Lilly laid down next to Miley and brushed her fingers through her friends hair several times before resting her arms around Miley's shoulders. Miley slowly turned over and looked at Lilly. Lilly gazed back at her.

"Are you sure you're okay? Your face is all red," Lilly placed her palm on Miley's forehead. Miley was rendered speechless at how close Lilly was to her. She was without a doubt, frozen in place, simply from the smallest touch.

"Y-yeah," Miley cleared her throat, and then mustered all the courage she had to put her arm around Lilly in return. "I'm just.." She couldn't think of anything to say. "Yeah I'm fine,"

"Lilly frowned. "If you say so."

Suddenly Lilly's phone went off again. They both jumped, and then looked at each other. Lilly stood up and went over to it. After opening the message and reading it, she relaxed.

"It's just Oliver. He sent a list of things he's come up with that we could do this weekend. He listed a bunch of beaches to visit, and mentioned that we might try going to the Getty, or head over to Venice, if David's interested."

Miley smiled, remembering she had Oliver on her side too. "Leave it to Mr. Oaken to find everything withing a 50 mile radius to do in a weekend."

Lilly loosened up and laughed. "Yeah, that's for sure. You wanna go get some food? It's about dinner time."

"Yeah, I'm starving, let's go." She stood up and linked her arm in Lilly's. In her head she kept reminding herself she had until Friday afternoon to prepare for anything this David guy was going to bring. She was going to make sure nothing happened to Lilly; not while she was around.


	2. Chapter 2

Thursday had come and gone. Before Miley knew it, it was Friday. She went to school and it seemed like an ordinary day. She met up with Lilly and Oliver in the morning, went to class, had lunch, and then went back to class.

Still, throughout the entire day, Miley could feel the tension in her building with each passing minute. It had never really gone away. She and Lilly hadn't talked much about David coming to visit since Wednesday. Lilly was doing her best to not dwell on it, Miley could tell, so she did her best not to bring it up.

As school ended, Miley was shocked that it was already time to go; the day had flown by and it was mere hours before she and Lilly had to go pick David up from the airport.

Before they went their separate ways, the three of them gathered to touch base on their plans for the weekend.

"So," Oliver cleared his throat. "You'll talk with him tonight after you pick him up about what he feel like doing and give me a heads up? We should get started, whatever we end up doing, by 11 at the latest. Wanna make sure we have enough time in the day,"

Lilly nodded, "Yeah, I'll run everything by him and see what appeals to him. When I know I'll give you a text or call."

"'Kay, cool," Oliver glanced over at Miley, who was distributing obvious signs of anxiety. "You two are picking him up soon, right? What are you thinking of doing tonight?"

"I dunno," Lilly frowned, realizing she hadn't really thought of that. "If he's hungry, go get food, or he might just want to get settled in the guest bedroom and relax after his flight."

Miley cringed. The guest bedroom was right at the end of the hall next to Lilly's. Her moms bedroom was practically on the other side of the house. Not to mention, Lilly's mom worked most of the time, even on holidays and weekends.

"Alright, well I guess I'll hear from you in a bit." Oliver smiled, and waved his hand with a departing gesture. "Good luck!" His eyes darted to Miley after saying this, meaning it mostly for her.

"See ya, Oliver," Lilly chimed.

Miley sighed and nodded, so Oliver could see. "Later,"

As soon as Oliver left, Lilly turned to Miley. Miley could immediately sense the intensity of Lilly's nervousness churn. "So, do you want to go home and meet me in an hour? Or... I could come pick you up? Or..." She was running out of options to suggest.

"Why don't I just follow you in my car to your house and we can just hang there for a bit until we have to leave? That way you don't have to worry about running me around." She looked up at Lilly, who seemed to be somewhat more relieved as she said this. "I was thinking, if he wasnt tired and wanted to still do something tonight, we could even go to my place, just for a change of scenery, or something. It's an option,"

Lilly exhaled, and timidly took Miley's arm in hers and they walked to their cars. "God, Miles, you're a life saver. I don't know what I'd do without you. Thank you, I mean it,"

Miley stared blankly out of the passenger seat window of Lilly's car. They had driven to Lilly's and then ended up listening to music while reading in Lilly's room. Miley hadn't gotten a chance to bring up any of the things she wanted to talk to Lilly about. She felt completely unprepared and blindsided.

"So, what's he look like?" Miley couldn't take it, she had to ask something, "I mean, how will we know when we see him?"

Lilly cleared her throat, "Uhm, well... He's a little taller than Oliver. brown hair, kinda grey blue eyes, he's kinda pale, but not in a gross way. He's not buff or anything but he's not completely puny looking either."

A thousand different faces popped into Miley's head. Lilly's description didn't help at all. She could only picture him as a crafty looking character who was up to no good. Sighing, she glanced over at Lilly who sat behind the driver's seat. They were stopped at a stop light and Lilly anxiously strummed her fingertips on the steering wheel.

"Hey, Lil?" Miley found herself speaking, without really thinking.

"What's up Miley?" the light turned green and Lilly drove forward, Making a right hand turn at the light.

Miley hesitated, trying to figure out exactly what she was trying to say. "You know, if anything gets weird with him, when no one's around or something, and you're uncomfortable, you know you can call me right? I can even come spend the night. I'm serious, anything at all, no matter how small it is, if you're uncomfortable, I can be there,"

Lilly smiled softly and relaxed. "Miles, thank you. I'm hoping it'll be fine, and I'm just psyching myself out. I'm sure you've been able to tell how freaked out I've been about this whole thing, nothing gets passed you."

Miley laughed, "You got that right,"

Lilly laughed too, and the atmosphere in the car lifted. "Well I really am thankful. For how much you've supported me."

"No problem," Miley lit up, "I'd do anything for you, Lilly!" She blushed as she realized she said this, but noticed Lilly didn't seem to mind, she just smiled more.

Miley gazed down at Lilly's right hand, that rested on her thigh as she drove. After a straining hesitation, Miley reached and gently took the hand in her own. Lilly glanced at Miley for a split second, and then at their hands. She continued driving, a smile still upon her lips. Grasping Miley's hand tenderly in her own, she pulled into the airport parking lot.

"Flight 4174, now arriving on schedule," The automated voice boomed across the terminal.

Miley looked to Lilly, "That's him, right?"

Lilly nodded. She looked more nervous than Miley had ever seen her. If Miley hadn't felt as if she'd already overstepped her boundaries in the car with, what felt to her like, a very intimate moment with Lilly, she would have reached to hold Lilly's hand once more. It was something so simple, they had done it in the past all the time, but now to Miley it seemed nearly impossible to attempt.

The watched as the approaching plane landed, and slowed to a stop. Soon, the passengers would be exiting. Miley could feel her heart throbbing in her chest. She tried not to panic. It was all happening too fast. He just, "Poof!" out from nowhere popped out of the sky and was here all of a sudden.

The first few passengers came from where the plane had docked. A man in a suit, already on the phone, a family hauling suitcases, another lone man; casually dressed, and elderly couple...

And then, the moment of dread. Miley knew when it had come, because of the ecstatic look on the teenage boy's face after skimming the room untils his eyes locked on Lilly. Not to mention, he fit the description. To further prove Miley's dread, he threw his hand up and waved, somehow in a way that annoyed Miley, and then he called out Lilly's name.

Lilly, who had become partially petrified as soon as she had seen him, and fully petrified as soon as he had seen her, forced an awkward smile and lifted her hand to wave to him briefly. He quickened his stride and practically bounced over to them.

Without stopping, he threw his arms around Lilly and hugged her tightly; too tightly for Miley's comfort. By Lilly's awkward posture, Miley knew Lilly was even more discomforted.

"It's so good to see you! You look great!" He said as he gave her a squeeze.

Lilly didn't know what to do. "Y-you too!"

When the hug appeared to be lasting more than a few seconds, Miley cleared her throat. It was enough to make his realize it was time to let go. He stepped back, still smiling, and then looked at Miley like he had just realized she was there. Miley watched him eye her up and down, but she made sure to glare and that made him back off.

"This is my best friend Miley," Lilly introduced weakly. She really couldn't manage anything else to say at the moment. The intense hug had taken her by surprise and made her flustered

David smiled, though it was slightly strained. "Nice to meet you,"

"It's a pleasure," Miley's tone was less than enthusiastic, but made up for it with subtle sarcasm.

David rolled his eyes back over to Lilly, which made Miley's blood boil. "So, I don't have any luggage to pick up, I brought everything in my carry on. We're all set to go,"

"O-oh, okay! Yeah, sure. You ready, Miles?" Lilly looked at Miley. Miley could see the plea for help on Lilly face. She didn't know what to do.

Miley breathed in, and took initiative, for Lilly's sake. "Yeah, I'm all set!"

The three of them began walking towards the exit. David took Lilly's left. Miley took Lilly's right. Lilly was in the middle.

Once they got to the car, Miley made sure to get to the front passengers seat first. If she had to, she would place the "I'm a girl, you should offer me the front seat anyways," card. Luckily she sensed no problem, and Lilly seemed relieved.

"So how was you flight?" Lilly finally asked awkwardly after they had exited the parking lot and she was merging onto the freeway.

"It was good. I slept through most of it, so no real complaints," David was still smiling in the back seat, glancing at Lilly every so often. Miley could see from the side view mirror.

"Oh, that's good," Lilly fidgeted ever so slightly. "So you're probably not tired, then. Was there anything you wanted to do tonight? If you're hungry we can go get food,"

"Yeah, I'm wide awake!" David grinned. "Not quite hungry yet though,"

Miley was frustrated, to the point where she couldn't speak, even if she wanted to. At first, she didn't think this David guy was so great when she saw him. At second glance, after really taking a minute to look at him, Miley was devastated at the fact that she had to admit to herself that he was actually pretty cute. That made the fact that Lilly had slept with him even worse for Miley to imagine.

Poor Lilly, in the driver's seat, had to deal with not knowing how to converse with David, and noticing Miley's obvious brooding silence. She focused on driving and did her best not to panic. Luckily, David did most the talking, filling Lilly in on how her dad and hid mom were doing, and giving her their regards. Before he was done gabbing his mouth off, they had arrived at Lilly's house.

They all got out of the car, and Lilly led the way to the door. Miley tucked in behind her, making sure to give some distance from David who followed up.

"Well, this is it," Lilly said after she opened the door and they all stood in the entry way. "That's the kitchen over there, and the living room. My mom's room is over there, she'll be home later. The guest room is this way, here, let me show you."

Lilly led them down the hall to the end room and opened the door. Inside was a made up bed, a nightstand, and a shelve of books. Other than that, the room was bare.

"Sorry it's so bland," Lilly laughed to herself, "We don't use this room much, and my mom's not the decorative type anyways,"

David smiled, "No problem, it's fine. Was that your room we passed on the way here?"

Miley shot him a death glare, but he didn't see it, or pretended not to acknowledge it.

"Yeah," Lilly said dryly, "The bathroom's across the hall from it, by the way,"

"Cool, we're neighbors! I'll try not to keep you up at night!" David winked, playfully.

Miley swore she could have punched a whole in the wall right then and there. She didn't though, knowing it would probably hurt, cause a scene, and put a whole in Lilly's wall. Lilly's mother wouldn't be too happy about that. She restrained herself as Lilly laughed awkwardly and changed the subject."So why don't you take a bit and unpack and settle in? Then we can talk about what you wanna do while you're here, and then figure out what to do tonight, sound good?"

"Sounds great!"

"Okay, take your time, just give us a holler when you're done," Lilly smiled and began walking out of the room with Miley.

"Will do!" was called after them.

Lilly and Miley made their way in silence to Lilly's room. When they were both inside, Miley shut the door behind her. Lilly immediately looked at Miley, a worried expression on her face. "Are you okay, Miley?" They spoke in raised whispers.

Miley was at her wits end and let some of her emotion escape in a sarcastic spat that was misdirected at Lilly. "I'm great! Are you?" She immediately regretted allowing this to happen as she saw Lilly's expression fall even more. Miley remembered Lilly was having a hard enough time as it was.

"I, I'm doing my best. It's hard, I'm not going to lie. I already feel really uncomfortable."

Miley sighed, composing herself. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to snap. I'm spending the night tonight, Lilly. I already decided. He's just too friendly already, it makes me uncomfortable too,"

Lilly lowered her head, about to cry. "Th-thank you, Miles..."

The only thing Miley could do to stop herself from crying too was pull Lilly into a hug. Lilly gratefully excepted it, as if she had been waiting for it. She exhaled shakily, and Miley could feel her tremble.

"It's okay," Miley soothed gently. "It's what I'm here for,"

They stayed like this for several more moment, and then separated. "I guess we should go, we don't want to keep him waiting,"

"No," Miley sighed. He could wait forever for all she cared. "I suppose not,"

Their timing was perfect. As they exited the room, David was coming out from the guest room.

"Oh, hey!" He grinned. "I finished unpacking! So what's next?"

Lilly glanced at her phone to get the time. "Well, it's almost 6. It'll be getting dark soon. We could head out, take a little walk and get food on our way back. There's a cool vista point that overlooks the beach nearby, we might catch sunset,"

David lit up, "That sounds great! I'm ready whenever."

"Cool, um," Lilly glanced over at Miley to make sure they were both ready. "Well let's get going!"

As they left the house and began walking a wave of silence passed over them, each of their minds churning as they focused on their steps.

Finally David spoke. "So, Miley, how long have you known Lilly?"

Miley was actually surprised he had spoken to her. "Since I moved here in 5th grade. We've been close ever since." She made sure to hint her dominance in her voice.

"Oh yeah? Where'd you move from?" he glanced at her as they walked.

"Tennessee," Miley said blankly.

David's eyes widened. "Oh whoa, that was a change, I bet!"

Miley rolled her eyes to herself. "It wasn't that bad. Especially after you find such good friends,"

Miley looked to Lilly as their entire friendship, from the first time they met, rushed through her brain. The laughs, the tears, the screams, the smiles.

Suddenly she shook her head, realizing she was allowing herself to slip. It was Lilly she was trying to protect! She couldn't be sweet talked defenseless with her only weakness!

She snapped back just in time, as she realized David was no longer interested in their conversation, and was quickening his pace to catch up with Lilly more. Miley matched his pace.

"So, tomorrow," Lilly had gathered the courage to speak. "What do you wanna do? See the beaches? Head to the Getty? Venice? I figure we could fit in whatever your wanted to do while your here."

David blinked. "Oh, uhh... I don't wanna make you guys go too much outta the way. Whatever is easy. Those idea all sound good to me, so play it by ear, I guess?"

"Okay, why dont we go see the beaches tomorrow? Then we can see if we feel like hanging there, or checking out the Getty."

David smiled and took a large swerve closer to Lilly in his stride. "That a great idea!"

Lilly cleared her throat and tried not to shiver. Miley was silently fuming nearby. "Okay, so I'll let Oliver know and we'll probably meet up with him somewhere by late morning."

"Oliver?" David repeated blankly, "Oh yeah, that other friend of yours, the guy you grew up with?"

"Yep," Miley answered curtly, before Lilly had a chance to.

There was a more than awkward pause. "Ah, he sounds cool.." David seemed to back off, and was thinking to himself.

Miley could not wait until Oliver was around to help her with this guy.

The rest of the walk was silent. Unfortunately, when they got to the vista point and saw the ocean, David was blown away and wouldn't shut up about how amazing it was. even after they had spent 20 minutes there and then started walking back, he was still running his mouth. They had returned to their original pattern of Lilly being in the middle, and Miley walked with her arms folded.

"Man, I can't wait till we get to actually to go onto the sand! And the ocean? It's huge! I coulda sworn I didn't see an end to it."

Lilly nodded, and then cleared her throat. "Yeah.. um, so what do you feel like getting for dinner? We'll be passing a few food places coming up. There's pizza, Chinese, and burgers. Any of those appeal to you at all?"

David blinked, and then shrugged. "I'll eat anything, so whatever you feel like. I was wondering, what are we doing after this?"

"Uhh," Lilly stammered, looking to Miley desperately for help with her response.

"Shouldn't your mom be home by now, Lilly?" She was hoping the presence of Lilly's mother would make thins easier and less awkward.

Lilly perked up. "Oh! Yeah! She should be home! She'll want to meet you, David!"

"Sure. My mom's boyfriends ex wife, huh?" He thought he as being funny, and only Miley saw the pained look on Lilly's face as he said this.

After picking up a pizza they headed back to Lilly's house. Her mothers car as outside and Miley breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mom!" Lilly called as they entered the house. "Hello?"

They heard footsteps approaching and then Heather appeared from her room. She held a phone to her ear. "Right. Yes, it will be done just in time. Uh huh. Bye," Hanging up, she looked up at the three of them and smiled. "Hey, Lilly, Miley. And this must be David,"

"Nice to meet you," David smiled politely.

Heather extended her hand, and he shook it. "I hope you had a nice flight in"

David nodded. "Yeah, no problems,"

"I hate to say this," Heather turned to Lilly. "but I got called into the office tonight. There's some paperwork that needs to be finished by the end of this weekend. Between that and some last minute meetings, I'll probably be gone most of the time David's here. Make sure you show him a good time,"

Lilly gulped and crossed her arms nervously. Miley tried not to let her aggravation show. "I will, mom, we're gonna meet up with Oliver tomorrow and go see some beaches,"

"Good!" Heather smiled, "You guys make sure to be safe and have a fun! Did you get him all set up in the guest room?"

"Yeah," Lilly nodded.

Heather reached to put her phone in her purse. "Perfect. Well I have to get going," She walked to Lilly and kissed her on the forehead. "Love you. Have a great time guys. Bye Miley, bye David."

Miley smiled best she could as Heather glanced at her. She could tell her daughter was on edge, and as she met eyes with Lilly, Miley knew she was thanking her for being there. Miley's anxiety rose as Heather briskly walked to the door and exited the house. The three of them stood still as they heard the car door from outside, and then the engine turn on and drive away.

"So," Miley spoke up, "We could watch a movie while we eat. Or play a game or something,"

Both Lilly and David turned to Miley. "Sure, that sounds good," Lilly seemed like she was still processing the fact that her mother wouldn't be there.

They sat down on the couch in the living room, and Lilly went to get some plates for the pizza. Right before they all sat down, Miley's phone rang. It startled her.

Pulling out her phone, she saw that it was her father calling. She realized she had completely forgotten to check in with him. "Hello?" She flipped it open and answered.

"Miley! Thank heaven's, I was starting to worry when I hadn't heard from you. Where are you?" Her fathers voice somehow stressed her out even more.

Miley glanced nervously over at Lilly and David and then walked out of the room to talk. "Sorry, daddy, I'm at Lilly's. I'm probably spending the night,"

"Oh, well, that's fine, I just was worried."

Miley paced anxiously up and down the hall. "Yeah, I'm sorry I completely forgot to let you know,"

"No problem, have fun, Just be sure to let me know what your plans are,"

"I will, daddy. Love you,"

"Love you too, Miles, bye,"

"Bye," Miley hang up and sighed. Then she realized she had left Lilly all alone with David. Frantically she started walking back to the living room. She stopped before she entered, hearing David speaking in a low voice.

"So, when's your friend going home?"

"U-um, she's actually spending the night tonight, we... have a project due next week, and were gonna work on it before bed." Lilly was wracking her brain to make the excuse sound valid.

"Aw, that kinda sucks. Do you think you could sneak out after she falls asleep? Maybe come to my room?" Miley heard him move, and could only assume he was closing in on Lilly.

"Um, well, I dunno. We should get good rest tonight for our big day tomorrow,"

"I guess your right. There'll be time tomorrow,"

Lilly laughed nervously. Miley couldn't take anymore, she entered the room. To her displeasure, she saw David sitting incredible close to Lilly on the couch. Their eyes met, and Lilly's expression was one of fear and desperation. Miley immediately walked over and sat down as close as she could next to Lilly who was in the middle of the couch. David, who was on the other end, sat up and awkwardly reached for a piece of pizza. While he was doing this, Miley scooted closer to Lilly so that they were touching, and even went as far as to take Lilly's arm in hers. Lilly seemed to calm down.

"Let's see what movies are on," Lilly grabbed the remote and turned on the television. They sat in silence and ate as the noise from the TV filled the room. Miley made sure not to let go of Lilly, and David didn't make any more moves.

The movie had ended. Lilly reached for the remote and clicked off the TV. A moment of silence hung in the air, and Miley reluctantly detached herself from Lilly.

"So," Lilly boldly spoke, "We should get some sleep tonight for the day tomorrow. Is there anything you need before we turn in, David?" She glanced at him, trying not to seem nervous.

"Mmm, uh, naw, I don't think so," He yawned and rubbed his eyes, "I'm pretty tired anyways,"

Lilly stood up from the couch, Miley did too, almost simultaneously. "Okay, well let's head to bed then,"

The three of them walked down the hall. Miley and Lilly stopped in front of Lilly's door. Miley was already in the room, but David groggily lingered, trying to get Lilly's attention.

"Goodnight, Lilly. I'm really excited for tomorrow," He grinned and then suddenly swept Lilly up into a hug. Miley watched as Lilly froze, and David layed his lips upon her neck, as if it were nothing. She seethed with rage.

"G-G'night," Lilly sputtered, awkwardly patting David's back. He released her, smiled and clumsily drifted off to the guest room, shutting the door behind him.

Lilly slowly turned around and glanced at Miley as she entered the room. Miley looked like she was ready to kill someone.

"Lilly!" If her voice had not been a harsh whisper, Miley would have been screaming. "What the heck was that just now? This guy is just a horn dog!"

Lilly didn't respond. Instead, Miley noticed, she looked like she was about to faint, and walked over to her bed to sit down. Miley held her tongue and went to sit down next to her. She rested her hand on Lilly's forearm and lowered her voice.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak out just now. He really just makes me uncomfortable. I feel like I can't even leave him alone with you for two seconds."

Lilly shook her head and then dropped herself back onto her mattress, laying her arm over her eyes. Miley could tell she was trying not to cry. "I'm sorry this is so ridiculous. I just freeze up around him."

Sighing, Miley leaned back onto the mattress as well and ran her fingers through Lilly's hair to try and comfort her. "It'll okay, Lill. Don't worry, I'm not plannin on letting him get a chance to do anything," Her voice was stern.

Lilly exhaled and uncovered her eyes, turning to face Miley. Now they lay both on their sides facing each other. Miley smiled softly, and then scooted a tad closer. Shutting her eyes she pulled some blankets over the two of them.

"Let's go to sleep. I'm exhausted," She was practically in Lilly arms.

Lilly sighed, expelling any lingering negative emotions she had left and reached to turn off the lamp before resting her arm timidly over Miley. Then, she too shut her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Miley woke up just before 9:00. Yawning, she stretched out her legs in bed and then realized, to her displeasure, that Lilly was not in the bed with her. She shot up in a panic as she remembered the circumstances from yesterday; David was here. Before she panicked too much, she began calming herself, telling herself that Lilly was fine, and just out of the room. Still, Miley knew she had better get up and investigate.

No sooner did she place her feet upon the ground from the bed did Lilly walk into the room, already dressed. Miley looked up at her and blinked, she was still waking up.

"Morning, Miles," Lilly greeted with a brief smile as she made her way into the room.

"Morning," Miley yawned again before eying Lilly. "Where were you?"

Lilly stopped at her desk and grabbed her phone and wallet, and put them in her pockets. "I got up early and got breakfast started so we'd have enough time to eat before we meet Oliver."

Miley noticed the smell of something delicious. "Is David awake?" She asked cautiously as she stood up.

Lilly shook her head. "No, he's still sleeping. I was going to wait for you to wake up before I went to check on him,"

"Oh, that's good," Miley relaxed. "It smells good, whatever you cooked. I'm starving,"

Lilly laughed and met eyes with Miley. "It's nothing special. Just some pancakes and bacon."

Miley smiled, "Still smells good. I'm so ready to eat,"

"Well, why don't you get dressed and I'll go wake David up so we can eat," Lilly was trying to come off as confident, but Miley could still sense a hint of anxiety coming from her.

Arching her brow, Miley gave Lilly a concerned look. "You think you'll be okay waking him up by yourself?"

Lilly cleared her throat nervously. "I should be. I don't think he'll do anything, I'll just let him know breakfast is ready."

"Okay. If you say so," Miley nodded, but still wasn't convinced. She grabbed some of her clothes, which were conveniently located in a drawer that Lilly had designated for her. Miley was always leaving clothes at Lilly's house. As she was about to change, she felt a sudden nervousness. She glanced at Lilly, who was texting on her phone, probably to Oliver. Either way, Lilly wasn't looking at her at that moment, but she couldn't figure out why she felt so embarrassed to change her clothes with Lilly in the room. It wasn't something abnormal for her to do, but now for some reason she felt hesitant.

Lilly shut her phone and pocketed it again. "Ollie's gunna meet us at Rico's in 2 hours. That should give us enough time to eat, get our stuff together, and get there just in time."

"Sounds good," Miley shyly removed her shirt to change into her new one. She caught Lilly's eyes as reached for her top, and quickly looked away instinctively.

Lilly hesitated for a brief moment and then moved for the door. "I'll see you in the kitchen when you're done?" Lilly seemed flustered too, though Miley didn't know if it was for the same reason, or because she was going to go wake David up.

"Yeah, I'll be right out,"

Lilly shut the door behind her, and Miley got dressed as fast as she could. She put on some make up in record time. She could hear Lilly knock on David's door from down the hall just as she was finishing applying her eyeliner.

"David?" She heard Lilly ask timidly. "Are you awake?"

There was no answer. Lilly knocked again, but had no different results. She took a deep breath and sighed before Miley heard her open the door. "David?"

Miley walked closer to the door and strained her ears. Finally, she heard David make a low mumbling sound and then yawn loudly. "Oh, hey, beautiful. Good morning." His voice sounded groggy.

"Morning. Hey, listen, breakfast is ready. We have 2 hours until we're meeting with Oliver, so we should leave around 10:30."

"You made me breakfast? You're so sweet." David stood up out of bed and walked to Lilly. Miley's stomach churned. "Do I have enough time to take a shower?"

Lilly's voice was scattered. "Y-yeah, as long as it's a quick one."

David lowered his voice, and Miley could imagine him getting closer and closer to Lilly. "Do you wanna take one with me? I'm sure your friend wont mind. She's still here, right?"

"Y-yeah, Miley's getting ready right now,"

"You should just tell her about us. I doubt she'll care," David placed a hand on Lilly's arm and Lilly froze again. "She'd understand, don't you think? I mean, she must know what it's like to... want to be 'with' some one. It shouldn't be a big deal,"

Before anything else could happen, Miley heard something that made her skin crawl. The sound of David's lips, noisily pressing against somewhere on Lilly's body. Part of Miley was dying to know where they had touched, but the other part wasn't sure she could restrain herself from beating David to a pulp if she had known.

"W-we don't have a lot of time this morning," Lilly stammered, finally able to take a step away from him. "L-let's just get ready and eat breakfast. There's a lot we have to fit in today,"

David sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. No reason to rush what doesn't have to be rushed." Miley pictured him winking. "I'll jump in the shower real quick, get dressed, and join you guys for breakfast." He shuffled around in his bag and pulled out new clothes to wear. He turned to Lilly again and smiled. "But tonight should be nice,"

Lilly didn't respond, or couldn't. Miley heard David exit the room and stomp down the hall into the bathroom. The door shut and the water turned on. Miley finally reached to turn the knob and opened the door, stepping out into the hall. She saw Lilly, standing in the hall, her back facing Miley. She didn't move.

Miley walked up next to Lilly and rested her hand on Lilly's shoulder. "Lil? Are you okay?"

Lilly blinked away the tears in her eyes and exhaled in a tremble. She refused to meet eyes with Miley. "Let's go eat," She didn't have much of an appetite anymore, but she began walking towards the kitchen. Miley knew she couldn't ask what had happened, or for that matter, where David had kissed her. She silently followed Lilly.

After eating in silence, Miley glanced up at Lilly, who hadn't really touched her food. "It's really good, Lil. You're such a good cook!"

Lilly looked up at Miley and smiled weakly. "Yeah, I sure know what's what when it comes to instant pancake mix." She laughed a little, and Miley was glad to see that she was at least trying to remain positive.

"You should eat some more. You'll need your energy today, and you know what they say about breakfast!"

Lilly raised and eyebrow playfully at Miley. "That it comes before lunch?"

Miley laughed and went to rinse her plate. "Yeah, something like that,"

As Miley was rinsing her plate, and as Lilly was obediently taking a few bites of her pancake, David walked into the kitchen. "Smells good!" He sat down next to Lilly, where Miley had just been and stacked a few pancakes onto his plate before he doused them in syrup and began shoveling them into his mouth. "So what's up first on the agenda?" He glanced at Miley briefly as she came to sit back down at the table, across from Lilly.

"We're meeting Oliver at Rico's. It's a little food shack by the beach. He suggested we try surfing a bit, to start off." Lilly put her fork down, unable to finish her food. "I've got two boards for Miley and me, and Oliver's got his own. We'll probably have to rent one for you when we get t the beach."

David perked up. "I could just share one with you,"

Miley glared, and Lilly once again laughed nervously. "It'll be too hard to keep two people up, you'll have more fun with your own board."

"I think it'd work. I'd hold on real tight so we wouldn't fall over,"

Lilly was trying desperately to remain calm. "I-it's just not safe,"

Miley coughed, and David dropped the idea.

"Okay. Well, cool, I've never been surfing, is it hard?" David was nearly done with his breakfast.

Lilly frowned in thought and stood up to wash her plate, disposing of the uneaten food. "It takes some practice to actually get up and catch a wave, but we can just body surf and play around in the water to get used to it."

"Awesome, sound like a blast! I can't wait to get right up there on the beach!" David finished his last bite and followed Lilly's lead as he walked his plate to the sink. "Well I'm ready!"

Lilly glanced at Miley, who stood up from the table to indicate she was ready as well. "Okay, let's get going then," They both followed her to the car. Miley made sure to snag the front seat again.

Much to Lilly's relief, Oliver was already waiting at Rico's when they arrived. Unbeknownst to her, it was a result of Miley's frantic texts to Oliver as soon as they had gotten into the car:

"_U'd better b there! we r leavin now! help us!"_

"Heyyy, guys!" Oliver stood up smoothly from his seat. "Right on time!"

The four of them huddled together awkwardly for a moment. David apparently was awestruck by his surroundings and kept glancing over his shoulder at the ocean.

"Hey Oliver!," Lilly greeted enthusiastically, once she realized no one else was going to talk. "This is David," Lillly had done her part with the introduction and even Oliver could tell she was desperately pleading for him to take over from there.

David's attention had been drawn back to the circle when Lilly said his name. He glanced at Oliver with a skeptical look. Oliver, in return, grinned and offered his knuckles in a fist bump.

"Nice to meet you, my privileged brotha! You ready for a day that's like no otha? Smokin Oaken is in on the scene, and there's a fire up in here, if you know what I mean!" He broke out into his rippidy-rap.

Miley could have rolled her eyes, had it not been for the fact that for the first time in her life, she was incredibly grateful for Oliver's ability to be so obnoxiously corny, that it was hard to focus on anything else. David dumbfounded, glanced at Lilly, as if to ask, "Are you serious?" and after a brief shrug in return, lifted his own fist to bump knuckles with Oliver.

"Uh... yeah, you too," David said slowly. "So, we're surfing?"

Oliver cleared his throat and patted the boards resting on the table beside him. "I already got your board situation figured out! A buddy of mine was nice enough to lend it to us for the day!"

Miley glance at the boards next to Oliver. "That looks like Jackson's,"

"He owed me one, from a while back," Oliver narrowed his eyes, making it obvious that Jackson was somehow very indebted to Oliver for some reason or another. "A wise man waits for the right moment to be payed back,"

Miley and Lilly laughed, and David did too, just to not seem so awkward.

"So, we ready? Where are your boards, ladies?" Oliver noticed neither Miley or Lilly had their surfboards.

"Oh!" Lilly exclaimed, "We left them on the car wrack, I'll go grab 'em real quick."

"You want help?" David jumped right in.

Miley glanced at Oliver pleadingly. Oliver took a quick breath. "David, my man, you and me can go get started. They may not look it, but these girls can beat most of the upperclassmen at our school in arm wrestling. You gotta get acquainted with your board before we get started anyways. Half of surfing is knowing your board!" He winked and flashed a thumbs up, accompanied by a toothy grin. Then he grabbed Jackson's board and shoved it in front of David to hold before he picked up his own. David took the board, still seeming out of his elements and looked at Lilly.

Lilly was frozen where she stood until Miley grabbed her arm and tugged her in the direction of the cars. She mouthed a humongous "thank you!" to Oliver. Oliver smiled and shrugged as he led David to the beach.

As Miley and Lilly walked, Lilly seemed to relax again. Though neither of them spoke, Miley didn't really let go of Lilly's arm until they arrived at the car.

Lilly immediately began unfastening the boards from the top of the car. Miley wanted to say something, but found herself unable to think of what to say.

"Here ya go," Lilly offered Miley her board before getting her own down.

"Oh, thanks," Miley smiled. "Uh, hey Lil?"

Lilly successfully lifted her board from the wrack and leaned it against the car to get a better hold. "Yeah, Miles?"

Miley sighed and rested her board in the crook of her arm. "I don't know. I'm just worried. I don't know what to say. I just hope nothing bad happens today,"

"It's okay, Miles. You and Oliver are helping out tremendously. I couldn't ask for better friends." Lilly smiled genuinely.

Miley nodded slowly. Something was still bothering her. "Yeah. We've got your back, through anything, you know that. Can I ask you something though?"

Lilly looked at Miley nervously. "Y-yeah, of course,"

"This morning..." Miley started, watching Lilly closely for her reaction, "When you went to wake David up... did he kiss you?"

Lilly immediately looked down at her feet, unable to keep eye contact with Miley. "U-uhm... So, you heard that, huh?"

Miley's expression cracked briefly. "I didn't mean to... I was just worried. So, he did?"

"Yeah," Lilly sighed, "I'm sorry, Miley, I'm so stupid. I shouldn't be letting him do stuff like that, it'll just give him the wrong idea and encourage him."

Miley was having trouble getting the mental image out of her mind. "I'm not gonna lie, Lilly, I've seen you put a guy in an headlock for looking up your skirt and I don't understand why it's different with him."

"You're right, I don't know why I freeze up every time he's around..." Lilly shuffled some sand around with her feet. "It's just..."

Lilly hesitated, and then seemed like she wasn't going to continue unless Miley pried.

"It's just what?"

Lilly exhaled and finally looked up at Miley. "That night, when I was staying at my dad's, you know, and it was just the two of us, and we..." Miley knew what was coming next and tried not look bothered. "s...slept together..."

Even more mental images came flooding in to aggravate Miley's mind, but she encouraged Lilly to go on. "Yeah?"

"Some of the things... he did and said... it wasn't horrible, but... I guess they really... left a negative impression on me. I'm terrified, Miley." Lilly had gone back to looking at the sand as she said this.

Miley wasn't going to be able to let this one go. "What did he do, Lilly?" Her tone was serious, almost demanding.

"Look, do we have to talk about this right now?" Lilly's voice was panicked and she looked like she was trying not to cry.

"Yes," Miley knew she wouldn't be able to get through the day without knowing. "You don't have to go into detail, but please don't leave me hanging like this,"

Taking a deep breath, Lilly swallowed and spoke, still looking away from Miley. "He had this idea to put some porn on to get us in the mood, or something. I don't think he had any better idea of what he was doing than I did." She glanced briefly up at Miley to see if she still had to continue.

Miley could tell there was more and raised her eyebrows expectantly to give Lillly her answer. "And?"

"He ended up putting on this bondage porn, and then tried to imitate what was going on in the video... When things got a little too riled up, I was already too scared to tell him to stop. He ended up doing and saying some pretty demeaning things," Lilly glanced up again, and Miley could tell that she was begging her not to make her go on. At least not right there at the beach.

Miley, who was already fuming, exhaled and closed her eyes momentarily to try and calm herself. She opened her eyes, and saw that Lilly was wiping away tears from the rims of her eyes. Miley heart lurched. "Okay. I'm glad you told me, we can talk about it later. Let's just go have some fun, okay? Oliver's waiting."

She made a move to start walking, but Lilly didn't follow. Miley sighed and set down her board before placing her hands on Lilly's shoulders. Her voice was soft and soothing. "Lil, it's okay. Neither Oliver or I are going to let anything happen, alright?"

Lilly looked at Miley and nodded timidly. "Y-yeah, I know. You're right, let's go,"

Miley smiled softly, and gently gave Lilly's shoulders a loving squeeze. She picked her board back up and they walked towards the ocean to meet up with the boys.

Oliver and David were already in the water, sitting up on their boards.

"Hey gals, perfect timing!" Oliver smiled at them as they approached and noticed the heavy atmosphere they brought with him. "We just finished going over the basics,"

"The water's colder than I expected." David shivered and looked over at Lilly.

Oliver laughed, "Yeah, you'll get used to it. The sun'll get hotter after a while too,"

"Yeah," David turned back to the girls. "So you guys getting in?" He splashed water at them.

"Watch it!" Miley glared, feeling no tolerance after what Lilly had just told her. Her mind was still racing.

David grinned playfully. "Oh come on, you're gonna get wet anyways."

Miley sighed and dropped it. She turned to Lilly. "You ready?"

Lilly nodded anxiously, and the two of them removed their clothes, exposing their swimsuits underneath. Of course, David was gawking at Lilly. Miley wished she had a conch shell to throw at his head. However, Miley was surprised to catch herself gawking at Lilly as well. She looked away casually, trying to hide her embarrassment.

They put their boards into the water and got on. David clumsily paddled over to them. "You look awesome in a swimsuit, Lil,"

"Oh," Lilly already looked completely drained. "Thanks,"

Miley shuttered and shot Oliver an aggravated glance. Oliver paddled over to them too. "We're missing all the waves! Let's swim out a bit," Luckily, they all followed his suggestion and began swimming out a little further from the shore.

Oliver coached David through catching a good wave for body surfing. Once David caught on, he was like a kid in a toy store, having the time of his life. Miley and Lilly hung back and watched for the most part. Miley could surf but it wasn't typically her passion, and Lilly just wasn't feeling up to exerting the energy. They sat on their boards closer to the shore and bobbed over the waves that past them. It was quiet for some time, neither of them spoke at first.

"How you doing?" Miley asked nervously after glancing at Lilly and seeing her blank expression.

Lilly hesitated and then paddled a little closer to Miley. "I'm okay. Being in the ocean kinda help take my mind off things. I'm just wondering what we'll end up doing next."

"Something that'll keep David busy," Miley said sternly. "The more distractions the better,"

Lilly laughed a little and there was a brief silence before she spoke again. "I'm more worried about tonight, though. Mom texted me that she was only coming home this afternoon for a short amount of time before she had to go back to the office."

Miley frowned as she remembered David hinting to Lilly that tonight would be nice. His idea of nice was the exact opposite of what Miley had in mind. "I'll just have to spend the night again,"

Lilly gave Miley a sad look. "I feel bad for making you arrange everything around me, Miles,"

"Don't even think like that!" Miley was surprised at the emotion in her voice. She lowered her tone. "I mean, I just want to make sure you're okay, and that's all I care about. I'm not gonna up and leave when you might be in trouble,"

"Thank you, Miley," Lilly looked back out to the ocean's horizon. "Maybe I can even manage to talk to him and tell him how I feel..."

Miley didn't think that was a great idea, solely for the fact that she didn't trust David one bit. "Maybe. But don't push yourself. And don't worry about me, Lil, it's not like spending time with my best friend is torture. I love you, I mean it."

Lilly looked at Miley, half surprised by Miley's tender words, and half touched. Miley realized what she had said after she had said it and blushed, looking down at her board.

Lilly smiled, seeing how embarrassed Miley was, it was cute. "I love you too Miles," Something about the way she said it made Miley perk up, but before she could speak, they both heard a gleeful cry coming in their direction. They turned to see David body surfing on a wave right towards them. It would be safe to assume his target was Lilly, but at the rate he was approaching, and the way the wave was growing, they would both be hit for sure.

Oliver was frantically swimming towards them, calling after David to stop. There was no way David could've heard him over his own excited yelling. He didn't even stop to think twice that aiming to crash into someone was definitely dangerous.

Just as he was about to reach them, Lilly acted quickly. She reached over to push Miley's board out of the way, getting her out of the direct line of fire. This, however pushed Lilly slightly more into David's way. Miley stared, wide eyed and startled as she drifted away from Lilly. Lilly smiled at her and shrugged, trying to calm Miley's obvious growing terror. Before Miley could even call out to her, David collided into Lilly. Miley watched, horrified as the tip of Jackson's board caught her by the shoulder and she was thrown off her board into the water.

David laughed, not realizing the severity of his actions before he lost his balance on his own board and rolled off into the water as well. He surfaced right away smiling and grinning and searching for Lilly, who had yet to come up. Miley was crying and screaming in her head, but no sound would come from her mouth.

"Lilly, where'd ya go?" David pulled himself back on his board and was starting to realize something wasn't quite right.

Luckily, Oliver appeared and immediately dove off his board and swam underwater to find Lilly. Miley's heart was pounding in her chest. She felt about ready to faint. Not long after, Oliver surfaced, pulling Lilly up with him. He dragged her towards the shore. Miley eagerly followed behind him and David brought up the rear, not quite sure how to react.

"Is she okay?" Miley frantically asked as she stepped onto the shore, quickly tossing her board onto the sand and practically running to where Oliver had dragged Lilly onto the beach.

Oliver, out of breath, couldn't speak right away, but Lilly coughed and sputtered, indicating she was at least breathing. Miley knelt down next to her and instinctively pulled Lilly's head into her lap. She saw a bright red abrasion where the board had hit her shoulder and tried to hold back tears.

Oliver inhaled deeply and stood up. "We'll go get an ice pack and some water. Keep an eye on her until we get back." He turned to David who stood speechless behind them. "You comin'?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," David obediently followed Oliver, not really knowing what else to do.

Miley was left alone with Lilly, who still hadn't really come to. Fear and panic set in as she hoped and prayed Lilly was okay. She kept Lilly's head propped up in her lap and gazed down at her. Lilly's faint breathing helped calm Miley and convince her that nothing was urgently wrong. Miley breathed a sigh of relief as Lilly stirred and opened her eyes.

"Guhh," Lilly squinted against the sun, and Miley leaned over closer to her. "Miley?"

"Thank god you're okay," Miley couldn't hide the tears in her voice. "I was so worried!"

It took Lilly a minute to remember what had happened, and then another to realize her surroundings and grasp the fact she was in Miley's lap. She tried to get up but pain shot to her shoulder causing her to wince.

"Take it easy, just sit still. Oliver's getting some ice," Miley absentmindedly stroked Lilly's head reassuringly.

Lilly closed her eyes and sighed, trying to compose herself. After a silence, she opened her eyes again and looked at Miley. Miley was trying desperately not to burst into tears. "Are you okay, Miles?" Lilly hadn't really been able to piece together everything how it had happened.

Miley sniffed and nodded weakly. "Yes, I'm fine. You pushed me out of the way,"

Lilly closed her eyes again. "Okay, good," A faint smiled crossed her lips, and Miley couldn't help but smiled to.

"You dummy... You shouldn't have been worrying about me," Though she was still shaken up by the entire situation, Miley was enjoying holding Lilly in her lap. As far as she could tell, Lilly seemed content too.

"It's okay, Miles, I'm alright. I didn't want you getting hit too. David didn't know any better," Lilly kept her eyes closed and rested, the soothing ocean breeze rushing around them.

Miley frowned, unhappy with the fact that Lilly wasn't upset with the stunt David had pulled. "He's an idiot,"

Lilly laughed and then moved her uninjured arm to rest on Miley's thigh. "He didn't mean to. I'm just happy to have a little break. It gives me an excuse from overexerting myself."

"Yeah. This is kind of nice," Miley momentarily let go of her frustration with David and simply enjoyed the serene moment they were sharing. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, but now it was for a different reason. She couldn't quite figure why but didn't question it. They sat there in a comfortable silence. It was almost too soon when the boys returned.

"Hey, we got some ice," Oliver handed Miley the ice. Miley felt Lilly panic and try to sit up again, but she gently held her down and placed the ice on Lilly's shoulder. Lilly inhaled and relaxed again.

David anxiously held up a bottle of water. "We got some water too... How are you feeling, Lilly?"

"I'm okay," Lilly smiled weakly and took the bottle from him. "Don't worry. I just need to rest a minute,"

David frowned. He looked like a scolded puppy. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking. I got swept up in the moment."

"It's fine, really, don't worry, I'll be okay," Lilly reassured him as best she could.

"Good. I'll make it up to you, I promise," David smiled, and Miley rolled her eyes at how quickly he brightened up. She would have like him to feel more guilty for a while, and didn't even want to think of what it meant to him to make it up to her.

Oliver chimed in, sensing a rising tension. "I'm thinking we should think of something a little more chill to do for the rest of the day. Maybe we can see what's playing at the movies and then just grab a bite to eat before calling it a day. It's already 3:00."

"That sounds good," Lilly nodded in agreement, and neither Miley or David seemed to oppose the idea either.

While Lilly recovered, Oliver looked up movie times on his phone. Miley unscrewed the cap from the bottle of water and then helped Lilly sit up to take a sip. She made sure to let David know with her subtle glares that even though Lilly had forgiven him, Miley had no intention of forgiving him so easily. He got the hint and kept a distance.

"There's that basketball movie Jake's in playing at 4:15." Oliver glanced up from his phone to see if anyone had a preference. No one seemed to care exactly what they saw.

"Sure," David offered a response, trying to help the situation move forward. Miley and Lilly nodded too.

"Cool," Oliver put his phone away. "Well, how are you feelin Lil?"

Lilly sat up a little more, still having difficult with the pain in her shoulder, but Miley helped her stand. "I'm ready,"

They made their way to the cars and Oliver helped secure the boards on top of Lilly's car before puting the other two in his. "I think Lilly should wait a bit before trying to drive. We can all take my car and I can drop you back off later,"

Lilly nodded, "Thanks, Oliver,"

With that they walked to Oliver's car. Miley was all about getting in the back seat with Lilly now, and made it a point to help her in and then got in behind her. David took the front passenger seat. Oliver got in and started the car and they headed out. Miley glanced nervously over to Lilly the entire ride. Lilly gazed out the window and no one really said much.

They made it to the theater and bought their tickets. "You girls want anything to eat or drink?" Oliver offered.

"Maybe a drink," Miley spoke up, "If you get a big one, Lilly and I can share."

"Okay. I'll grab some popcorn too. You mind helping me carry stuff, David?"

David shook his head. "No problem,"

"Go ahead and snag some seats and we'll meet you in there," Oliver waved and he and David went to stand in line.

Miley and Lilly walked towards the theater in silence. Miley was still worried by how quiet Lilly was. They found some seats, there weren't too many people there.

"Here," Miley let Lilly sit next to the wall and then sat down beside her. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah" Lilly seemed out of it, "I'm okay,"

The boys came in right as the previews started. Oliver handed Miley their drink and then sat down next to her. David sat down on the end by Oliver. They all watched the screen in silence. Miley tried to act calm and not glance over at Lilly to check on her. Still she felt wound up and worried.

As the previews ended and the movie was beginning, Miley was surprised and relieved to feel Lilly's head rest on her shoulder. She looked at Lilly, her eyes were closed and she looked exhausted. Miley smiled softly to herself and then scooted closer to give Lilly more support. She reached and grasped Lilly's hand in hers and shyly kissed her forehead before relaxing and looking up at the screen, letting Lilly sleep. Miley could've care less about the movie.

After the movie, they got some burgers and sat down to eat. Oliver and David took over most of the conversation, critiquing the movie. Lilly was still silent for the most part, and Miley was keeping a watchful eye on her so she didn't say to much either.

When they had finished, Oliver drove them back to Lilly's car.

"You okay to drive, Lil?" Oliver asked as she shut his car door.

Lilly blinked and looked at him. "I should be able to make it. It's not that far,"

"I can drive," Miley offered.

"That's probably a good idea, just to be safe," Oliver turned to Lilly to see how she felt about it.

Lilly nodded, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks Miley,"

"So, depending on how you're feeling tomorrow, give me a call and we'll figure out what to do," Oliver walked back over to his car opened his door to get back in. "See you guys later!"

"Bye, Oliver!" Miley smiled at him, thanking him for all of his help, but also dreading the fact that he would be leaving. The three of them watched as he waved and started his car before driving away.

"Here, Miles," Lilly dug out her keys and handed them to Miley.

Miley unlocked the car and they all got in. Lilly, in the front seat, David in the back. The drive hope was silent as well.

They arrived back at Lilly's house just after 7:30. Miley helped Lilly out of the car and they made their way to the door. David was still keeping a distance from Miley. Once inside, Lilly sat down on the couch and tried to relax. Miley was about to offer her another ice pack, or some advil, but her phone rang. She glanced at Lilly, who nodded that she was fine, and then gave David a look before stepping out to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Miles," It was her father again. "Jackson got a flat tire and I'm on out helpin' him fix it. I wasn't able to feed Blue Jeans before I left and he might get pretty grumpy if he doesn't get his food soon. We don't want him busting out and eating the neighbors garden again. Can you run home and feed him?"

Miley swallowed, suddenly panicking. "U-uhm... yeah... sure, I can run home real quick." She glanced in the direction of the other room.

"Are you planning on staying at Lilly's again tonight?"

"Yeah, we went surfing today and she got a little banged up so I wanna keep an eye on her,"

"Oh no!" Her father sounded worried, "She alright?"

Miley nodded to herself, "Yeah, she's just still really out of it. Her mom's gone tonight too, so I figured I should stay just to be safe."

"Okay, well tell her I hope she feels better. Thanks for takin' care of Blue Jeans too,"

"No problem, Daddy," Miley lied, "I'll see you later. Good luck with the tire,"

They said their goodbye's and hung up. Miley sighed, aggravated and walked back into the room. David sat in the recliner chair in the living room and Lilly hadn't moved from the couch. Miley was somewhat relieved that David was at least a little distanced, but was horrified by what she had to say next. The way Lilly looked at her as she entered made it even worse.

"So..." Miley began, "I have to run home real quick and feed Blue Jeans. I should be back in less than an hour." She watched Lilly's face for a reaction but Lilly looked away. "Will you be okay while I'm gone, Lil? Is there anything you need before I leave?" Miley suspected she looked and sounded more panicked than Lilly.

Lilly shook her head, trying to be brave. "I think I'm okay. I just wanna rest for a bit anyways."

"Take your time, she's got me here if anything happens," David spoke up, smiling. That was exactly what Miley was afraid of.

"I won't be long," Miley shot him a glare but his smile didn't falter. "Call me if you need anything, Lilly,"

Lilly nodded, and Miley hesitated for a moment before she left the room and headed towards the door. Her mind was racing. She had to get back as fast as she could, she couldn't trust David alone with Lilly. She hoped and prayed with all her as she got in her car and sped out of the driveway that everything would be alright until she got back.


	4. Chapter 4

Miley screeched her car to an abrupt stop as she pulled into her driveway. She wasted no time, practically sprinting out of the car. Her mind was racing as she walked through the front door, through the living room, past the kitchen, and out the back door to Blue Jean's stall.

"Hey, buddy," She greeted frantically and out of breath. The horse was startled by her fast movement and reared back away from her. Miley took a moment to inhale, and then exhaled slowly, realizing she needed to calm down so she wouldn't spook Blue Jeans. After composing herself and relaxing her demeanor, she slowly reached up to soothingly rub between Blue Jeans eyes. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. It's turning out to be a heck of a weekend."

Blue Jeans bobbed his head and nudged Miley lovingly with his nose. He exhaled in a huff and a soft smile formed on Miley's lips. "Thanks, I needed that," She sighed and patted him on the neck as she walked over to grab him some hay. He followed her until she placed the hay in his food bin. He immediately started eating, tearing at the hay and chewing it loudly.

Miley sat and watched him, giving herself more time to sustain her composure. "Seriously..." She sighed, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this guy. Lilly's already been through enough as it is, and he's gonna be here until Monday..."

Blue Jeans looked up at her with a mouth full of hay, as if trying to let her know he was listening. Miley laughed. "I guess all I can do is my best. For Lilly's sake, and for mine," She wasn't sure exactly what she meant when she said this. "It's weird... I keep... imagining what it must have been like for her, but somewhere along the lines I forget that he's the one that she... was 'intimate' with, if you can even call it that. She deserves so much better. It should've been with someone who loves her, and would never hurt her, and..." Miley realized her mind was going into a place she wasn't expecting it to. Suddenly an arousing image involving not only Lilly, but herself as well, popped into her head. This startled her.

"I mean, I love Lilly, I do. She's my best friend, we do everything together. I couldn't imagine my life without her in it." She was annoyed at how flustered she sounded, and made an effort not to start crying. "I'd never let anything bad happen to her if I could help it. What David did to her makes me want to kill him." Miley was still trying to get the image of Lilly and herself out of her head, but it seemed reluctant to leave and linger on.

Blue Jeans jerked another morsel of hay from the bin and looked back at Miley, who was now completely lost in a daze. He huffed again and stomped his hooves, causing Miley to come to attention and look up at him. He was giving her a stern look. Miley blinked, trying to figure out what it was he was trying to tell her. Suddenly, she got it. "You're right, I really have to get going. I have to get back to Lilly," Blue Jeans bobbed his head again, and Miley gave him a grateful rub on the nose before leaving. "Thanks, Blue Jeans. You're the best. I'll see you later!" She smiled at him and then darted back to her car. Turning the keys in the ignition, she started the engine and buckled her seatbelt. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it had almost been half an hour. She knew she had to get back, fast.

Back at Lilly house, a silence had hung in the air for a while after Miley had left. This relieved Lilly, but she knew it wouldn't last for much longer.

"How's your shoulder doing?" David sat up from the chair he was sitting in and walked over to sit with Lilly on the couch. Lilly could feel herself tense up as soon as he sat down.

"Not too bad," She cleared her throat. "It's sore, but nothing I can't handle,"

David leaned over a little closer. "You want a massage? It might help loosen you up a bit,"

Lilly shook her head and struggled to find words to answer. "N-no it's okay. It's not that bad. Really." She couldn't even bring herself to look up at him.

"Come on, it's the least I can do. After all, I was the one who nailed you with a surfboard. I'll be gentle, I promise," David's hint of an aggressive tone, as well as his choice of wording made it hard for Lilly to argue. "Here, come sit in front of me,"

Lilly obeyed, unable to do anything else in her petrified state. David wasted no time placing his hands on Lilly's shoulders and began pressing down lightly with his fingertips. "You're so tense. Take a deep breath and relax." He brought his lips close to her ear as he spoke. Lilly did her best to breath, but inside, she was all knotted up in a different way; full of anxiety and fear. She was unsure of what David might do. "There you go. Doesn't that feel better?" David scooted closer, applying more pressure with his fingertips and resting his lips on the nape of Lilly's neck.

It didn't feel better. Along with the throbbing pain in her shoulder, which David had obviously forgotten was sore, Lilly shuttered as she felt his lips touch her skin. She closed her eyes; partly to stop any tears from coming out, and partly to try to mentally remove herself from the situation. She wondered how long Miley would be, and also just how far David was planning to go.

"I had a lot of fun today," David pulled away slightly to speak, but still breathed heavily onto Lilly's neck. "Oliver was a pretty interesting guy, but I don't think your Miley friend likes me very much. I get the feeling she's trying to block any opportunity we get for some action." He stuck his nose behind Lilly's ear and breathed in, smelling her, and then exhaled his hot breath into her hair.

Lilly's hair stood on end, she couldn't bring herself to move, let alone, speak. David's hands forgot their task as they started squeezing their way down her biceps and to her elbows until they were able to reach her ribs. Quite predictably, from there they found their way to her breasts and his enthusiasm rose. Nothing about his actions were gentle. It wasn't long before his lips found their way back to her neck. His saliva made her cringe.

A brief stifled noise escaped Lilly's throat and she couldn't help but allow the tear that fell from her cheek to drop. David must have mistaken it for a moan of pleasure because his actions only increased,reaching under Lilly's shirt and undoing her bra before she went back to fondling her breast.

This lasted another 10 minutes until David pulled back, out of breath and obviously aroused. "What do you think? Should we give it a go? We might have time before Miley gets back,"

Lilly took every ounce of strength she had just to speak. She was even able to pull away in a casual gesture. "U-um, I think I should really just... relax my shoulder. I don't want to strain it. I'm pretty exhausted, I think I'm just going to go get to sleep."

David made a pouty exhale and reluctantly withdrew. "Okay... yeah I don't want your shoulder getting all messed up. Take good care of it tonight, and hopefully it'll feel better by tomorrow." David stood up first, and Lilly followed, not bothering to relatch her bra or straighten up.

"Yeah, I just need a good sleep," Lilly glanced up at him nervously. David smiled and then pulled her into a kiss. Lilly managed to get through it, knowing her escape was drawing nearer.

"I'm probably gonna sit out here and watch TV for a bit. I'm not that tired yet." He grinned and held Lilly in a hug for a few more moments. "I'm guessing Miley'll be back soon. I got the impression she's staying over again. But I'll see you in the morning! Make me a delicious breakfast again!" He pulled away, and Lilly knew she needed to leave now.

"I'll see you in the morning, goodnight," Her voice lacked emotion. Somehow she made it down the hall to her room. Shutting the door behind her, she didn't bother turning the light on. She managed to get to her bed fell into it. There wasn't much else to do except cry.

Miley burst through the door full blast approximately 16 minutes after Lilly had retreated to her room. The sound of the TV was audible from the other room and she walked into the living room without announcing herself. Not that anyone wouldn't have heard her coming. Her eyes rested on David, and she wasn't sure what to think.

"You're back," David stated, lowering the remote in his hand and glancing up at her.

It took Miley a brief moment before she was able to speak. "Where's Lilly?" She was still looking around the room for her.

"She went to sleep not too long ago. Wants to rest her shoulder." David turned his attention back to the TV and began surfing through the channels.

"Oh," Miley was slightly relieved but still felt unsettled. "It's been a big day, I'm turning in for the night, too."

David didn't seem to care much. "Kay. 'Night." He didn't looked at her as he spoke, but Miley didn't care, she walked out of the room and briskly made her way to Lilly's door. She couldn't see the light from under the door and hesitated, suddenly feeling anxious and scared. Placing her hand on the knob, she urged herself to keep going. She opened the door and stepped into the dark room before closing the door behind her.

The only light was that of the moon coming in from the window. Her eyes were not adjusted to the dark, but she listened, and could hear Lilly weeping softly from the direction of her bed. Miley trusted her senses and made her way over to the bed, only tripping a few times.

"Lilly?" Miley spoke softly as she approached. "It's okay, it's me. I'm going to turn the lamp on, okay?"

There was no response from Lilly other than a wet sniffle. Miley sat on the edge of the bed and reached to turn on the lamp. The room was flooded with a dim light and Miley saw Lilly huddled under the covers of the bed. Taking a deep breath. Miley prepared herself.

"Lilly, sweety, what's wrong? What happened?" She scooted closer and started to pull the covers off. Lilly tried to keep them wrapped tightly around her at first, but quickly gave way to Miley's attempts.

As the covers were removed, Miley's heart ached at the sight of Lilly curled into a ball and sobbing into her knees. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were stained wet with tears when she was finally able to look up at Miley. She looked like she wanted to speak, but wasn't able to find any words.

The expression on Lilly's face told Miley all she needed to know. Miley had to force herself to act rationally. Instead of storming out of the room and punching David in the face, she climbed into the bed beside Lilly and practically had to scoop her up into her arms. She could feel Lilly trembling as she desperately tried to stop sobbing.

Miley sighed, calming herself, and rested her chin on the top of Lilly's head as she pulled her closer. "It's okay, Lil, just take some deep breath's. Everything's gonna be fine, I'm here now." She didn't know the details of what had happened, but an immense sense of guilt for having to leave in the first place loomed over her.

As Miley began rubbing Lilly's back in attempts to comfort her, she noticed Lilly's bra strap was undone and limply hanging from her shoulders. A mixture of rage towards David and a sudden uncontrollable arousal from caressing Lilly's braless back clashed in Miley mind. She swallowed dryly and forced herself to breath as well.

After several more moments of the two doing their best to maintain composure, Lilly took one last staggered breath in before she spoke. Her tears still hung in the sound of her voice. "Welcome back, Miles." She did her best to smile, and continued to try to keep the tears from coming back.

Miley wanted to cry too. In her head she was sobbing and holding Lilly as close as she could, never wanting to let her go. She knew, however, that she needed to remain calm to not upset Lilly further.

"Lilly..." Miley did her best to sound as soothing as possible, "Are you okay? Can you tell me what happened?"

Lilly sniffed and reached to wipe her cheeks with her sleeve before she attempted to sit up and answer. She must have been weak from crying, along with her sore shoulder, because she wasn't able to sit up much before lowering herself back into Miley's arms. Lilly seemed anxious at this, but Miley hugged her tenderly to let her know she didn't mind holding her. Lilly relaxed and breathed in.

"I-it wasn't... as bad as it could have been," She meant to assure Miley with these words, but Miley couldn't help but tighten her grasp around Lilly in angst from her words. "He offered to give me a massage for my shoulder. I told him it was fine, but he insisted and I c-couldn't..." Lilly paused, feeling her emotions rising as she thought back to it.

Miley anxiously stroked Lilly's arm with her thumb. "What'd he do, Lilly?"

Lilly exhaled shakily and cleared her throat before she answered. "He just got a little rough with his actions... and eventually just started kissing m-my neck and undoing my bra and..." Lilly really hoped Miley could put the next part together without her having to say it. Miley did, of course, and could unfortunately picture the entire thing in her mind.

"Did anything else happen?" Miley tried not to sound too distraught.

Lilly shook her head slightly. "He wanted to keep going but I told him I wanted to rest my shoulder and go to sleep." She was slowly starting to feel better after Miley had began comforting and had almost stopped crying.

Miley, on the other hand, was feeling worse by the second, but at least Lilly had been able to get away and nothing else had happened. After a brief silence, Miley found the capability to speak. "I'm glad you're okay. I'm wont leave again until those airplane doors shut and the plane leaves the ground with him on it."

"It's not your fault, Miles. I'm fine, I just got really shaken up." Lilly sighed, feeling Miley's strained emotion, and shifted in Miley's arms so that she could place her arm around her in return. Miley struggled to push down all the exciting sensations this brought her, but relaxed more and repositioned herself so they were both laying down. Miley really wished she could believe Lilly's words.

After a hanging silence, in which both seemed to be enjoying themselves, Miley hated to be the one to bring it up, but it needed to be addressed. "So, what do you think we should do about tomorrow?"

Lilly, who had become so relaxed that she almost drifted to sleep, fluttered her eyes open and sighed, slightly stretching her sore body out and snuggling closer to Miley. "Anything low maintenance. I don't think I'd survive another day like today. Maybe get Oliver to help out again, he really did a good job distracting David."

Miley nodded in agreement and sighed peacefully as she felt Lilly's warmth against her. "The Getty Villa might be a good idea. Walking around a museum shouldn't take too much energy, and hopefully all the exhibits will keep David busy."

"That sounds good," Lilly stifled a yawn and closed her eyes again, deciding not to fight sleep any longer.

Miley's eyes remained opened. She looked down at Lilly in her arms, and admired her sleeping face. She was about to close her eyes too when Lilly spoke.

"Hey, Miles?" Lilly didn't open her eyes to say this, nor did she move.

"Mm-hmm?"

Lilly turned her head, resting her face on Miley's shoulder. Her voice was a tired but genuine sounding mumble. "I love you,"

Miley's heart jumped, and she was sure that Lilly could hear it pounding in her chest. She didn't know how to take these words, though Lilly said them to her all the time and she had never had this problem before. She did her best to respond without sounding too anxious. "I love you too, Lil," She pressed her lips to Lilly's forehead and saw a small smile form on Lilly's lips. "Goodnight,"

When Lilly woke up, her neck and shoulder were stiff, and she could barely move it without an uncomfortable tension. She groaned, and sat up in bed, taking a minute to adjust to the bright morning light. She noticed how cold she felt, and realized it was because Miley wasn't in the bed with her, or in the room. She panicked for a second, but knew Miley wouldn't have left without telling her, so she groggily left the room to investigate.

Stepping into the hallway, she walked towards the kitchen, where she heard movement and also smelled something that was almost foodlike. She was relieved to find Miley standing over the stove with a spatula. Miley smiled as she saw Lilly enter.

"Morning Lilly!" She said cheerfully. "How are you feeling? There's some ibuprofen on the counter with some water if you need it."

"Thanks," Lilly blinked and walked to the counter. "You're up early. What are you cooking?"

Miley smiled, "Burned french toast!"

Lilly laughed as she took some of the ibuprofen from the bottle and washed them down with some water. "You're hopeless when it comes to cooking. Do you want any help?"

"Nuh-uh! Don't worry, I'll make sure yours isn't burned." Miley flipped a piece of the bread over in the pan and then watched as Lilly stiffly sat down in a chair at the table. "Are you still pretty sore?"

Lilly nodded, "Yeah, more than yesterday. Feels like I might have some bruising going on too."

Miley frowned, seeing Lilly gently try to loosen up her shoulder with a look of discomfort on her face. She did indeed spot the edge of a large purple-blue mark exposed by the neck of Lilly's shirt. "Do you think you need to see a doctor?"

"No, I don't think so," Lilly shook her head. "It'll heal eventually, I just gotta take it easy."

It still worried Miley, but she let it slide. "I already talked to Oliver about our plans for today. He agrees we should take it easy and said not to rush you. So take your time and whenever you're ready we can let him know we're on our way to meet up and carpool. He offered to pay for parking and everything too, even though I told him I didn't mind chipping in."

Lilly smiled, "That cornball. It's so cute when he tries to be a gentlemanly,"

They both heard a door down the hall open, and knew that David was coming out. Miley saw the color leave Lilly's face in a matter of seconds.

David groggily walked into the kitchen in his boxers and looked at the two of them. "Morning," He yawned, scratching himself and pulling up a chair at the table with Lilly. "Breakfast on it's way?"

Miley forced a grin and nodded. "Yup, just about." She still wanted to punch him in the face.

"How's your shoulder feeling today, Lilly?" David looked right at her, and Lilly tried her hardest to avoid his gaze.

"It's a little stiff today," She cleared her throat, discovering that her voice had suddenly become faint. "We were thinking we'd keep it low key and spend the day walking around the Getty Villa in Malibu."

"Sure," David yawned again and stretched out his arms in a prolonged motion before bringing them to rest him "Is that like a museum or something?"

"Yeah, it's got different art exhibits and paintings, and a garden. It really pretty." She glanced at Miley, who was watching David's actions like a hawk.

David blinked, unphased by Miley's eyes. "Cool, that sounds fun." He didn't sound convincing at all.

Miley served up their plates, making sure to give David the coldest pieces of the french toast. He didn't seem to care one way or another and simply began eating. Poor Lilly had lost her appetite again at the stress of having David present, but Miley saw she did her best to eat what she could.

After they all finished eating and rinsed their plates, Miley decided to take control of conversation before anything else could happen. "Well, we're on no time schedule, so let's just take our time to wake up and get ready. We can aim for meeting Oliver at noon."

"Okay," David's expression was unchanged as he blankly glanced at Miley. "I'm gonna jump in the shower then," He walked down the hall and into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Lilly exhaled when he was gone, already looking tired. Miley walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. "We'll get through this,"

Sighing, Lilly leaned into Miley's arms and returned the gesture. "Yeah... Thanks, Miley."

David took his time in the shower, which was fine with Miley because it gave her and Lilly more time to prepare for whatever the day was going to bring. They went into Lilly's room to get changed.

"So, if, for any reason, you get separated from Oliver or me today, we should have some kind of plan so David doesn't corner you." Miley pulled yesterdays shirt off as she spoke and then looked over at Lilly who was doing the same.

Lilly moved more slowly than Miley, and as she removed her shirt, Miley's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the deep bruise on her shoulder. It was a lot bigger and more swollen than Miley had first thought.

"If you need to stop and rest at any point, don't be afraid to speak up, either. We can have Oliver take David around if you start hurting and need to sit down." She glanced back over at Lilly as she removed her pants, but forced herself to look away before too long.

"I will," Lilly assured her, almost convincingly as she struggled to pull on her new pair of pants.

Miley frowned. Lilly already seemed completely exhausted. "And if we get separated, just call me as soon as you can. It should be okay, I don't plan on going anywhere without you, but it's good to be safe.

Lilly smiled, which helped ease Miley's mind a bit and finished slipping on her shoes. "Okay. Yeah, I know you wont let anything happen, Miles. Thank you."

Miley was temporarily stunned by Lilly's beautiful smile when she said this. She found it hard to move at all.

"Are you ready, Miley?" Lilly looked at her, confused by her sudden pause.

"O-oh, y-yeah. Let's get going." Miley blushed, and they both left the room.

David was finishing getting dressed in the bathroom, but it wasn't long before he emerged and they were ready to go meet Oliver.

Miley had offered to drive, after seeing how stiff and sore Lilly still was. It was a quiet ride to meet Oliver, and Miley noticed David almost seemed to be pouting and annoyed. Her best guess was that it was because he was realizing Miley had no intention of leaving him alone with Lilly again. She was glad he was getting the picture, but was also uneasy that he seemed to be deep in thought.

Once they met up with Oliver, Miley was sure to give him a brief look that told him his assistance was desperately needed today. Oliver noted how tired and slow Lilly seemed, and was ready to give it his all.

"David! Good to see ya again, buddy! You sleep good last night?" He slapped David on the back as a greeting.

David caught his balance, not expecting the abrupt gesture. "Yeah, you too. Slept good. No real problems."

"Good to hear," Oliver grinned. "Well, David, ladies, shall we all pile i my car and head out?"

Miley and Lilly nodded, and David seemed to be in agreement. They walked to Oliver's car. David knew the drill by now and took the from seat. To help with the heavy silence that took over the car as they left, Oliver turned put on some upbeat music.

As they pulled into the parking lot, David was suddenly blown away by what he was seeing. The building was quite an impressive structure, lined with pillars and surrounded by beautiful greenery. As they approached the entrance and waited to get in, he stood looking around at everything he could, his mouth slightly ajar.

When they had passed through the entrance and he saw the statues and the long body of water that stretched across the plaza, he became even more excited.

"This is really something!" He kept gazing at his surrounding in awe.

Oliver was flipping through the pamphlet he had picked up at the entrance. "It looks like the main exhibit is on Aphrodite."

"Isn't that that one chick of war or something?" David glanced at Oliver inquisitively.

"No," Miley quickly answered, rolling her eyes. "She's the Goddess of Love." Miley found herself blushing at having to say this and then looked over at Lilly.

Oliver nodded and read from the pamphlet. "'Aphrodite is typically associated with love, beauty, and sex,'" Miley caught David looking over in Lilly's direction as Oliver read on. "'The essence of the Greek Goddess' power was to provoke desire, and it was said that there were none who could rival her beauty.'" Now Miley caught herself looking in Lilly's direction.

"Huh." David shrugged. "That's pretty cool. We definitely gotta check it out."

"For real." Oliver agreed. "We picked a good time to come. Let's go see us some Aphrodite!"

Oliver lead the way, reading the map on the back of the pamphlet and David followed behind him. Miley hung back with Lilly who still wasn't moving too quickly. Luckily, Oliver was able to keep up with David and the two of them set out to look at all the statues, vases, and artwork.

Miley and Lilly went at their own pace, stopping to take time to look at a statue of Aphrodite that stood in the middle of the exhibit.

"So much detail." Miley spoke quietly in awe.

"Yeah," Lilly nodded, she was very quiet.

Miley nervously glanced over at her. "You doing okay?"

Lilly seemed to sway unintentionally where she stood. "I'm a little light headed," She admitted weakly, "My shoulder's starting bugging me."

Miley frowned. "Want to go sit down outside? I can go get you something to drink,"

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Miley placed her hand on Lilly's back to steady her. She looked pale.

"Come on, I'll help you outside." Miley guided Lilly outside to the table and sat her down. "There's a concession stand right over there, I'll go get you something to sip on okay? I wont be far."

Lilly pressed her hand to her forehead and nodded, looking completely drained. "Thanks Miley,"

"I'll be right back," Miley walked over and got in line. She waited patiently, making sure to look back and check on Lilly ever few moment. Soon it was her turn to order. "Two lemonades, please."

"Coming right up!" The man and the stand smiled and started making the drinks. "Are you enjoying the exhibit?"

Miley nodded. "Yeah, it's incredible. Some of the stuff in there must be hundreds of years old."

"Easily," The man finished one drink and put it on the counter before starting the other. "There are many myths and legends about Aphrodite, mostly involving her many lovers. She's a goldmine for artistic inspiration."

Miley nodded, thinking over what she had learned. "Where there any lovers she had that were different than the others?"

The man paused and frowned in thought. "Well there's Adonis, I guess. I don't know much, just what I've read around the museum, but supposedly, Aphrodite found him as an infant after his mother was turned into a tree to escape her bloodthirsty father. She took him to the underworld so that Persephone can care for him. He turns out growing into a handsome young man and Aphrodite returns for him, but Persephone isn't too excited about giving him back. After they start to fight about it, Zeus decides to jump in and says that Adonis will stay with each of them a third of the year, and then the last third with whichever of the two he chooses. He chooses Aphrodite of course, and they spend every moment they can together. She even takes up hunting for him." He finished the second drink and placed it on the counter next to the other one. "That'll $2.50."

Miley dug out her wallet and gave him the money. She hesitated to ask at first but she wanted to know the rest of the story. "So what happened after that?"

The man smiled at Miley's peaked interest. "Aphrodite finally pried herself away from him to attend to some of her own personal business she couldn't put off any longer, but before she leaves, she warns him never to attack an animal that shows no fear. He agrees but not long after she leaves, he comes across a wild boar and ignores her warning. The boar ends up killing him. Castrates him and he bleeds to death. Aphrodite rushes to save him but its too late. He ends up back in the underworld, and when she realizes this, she and Persephone are back at square one arguing about who gets him. Zeus decides at that point to just split their time with him into half a year each."

Miley raised her eyebrows in surprise, taking both cups in her hands. "That's... different," She didn't really know what else to say.

"Yeah, Gods and Goddess' sure have human drama topped." The man smiled. "Enjoy the rest of the exhibit."

Miley smiled. "Thank you, have a good day." She turned and started walking back to the table, the story still fresh in her mind. As she finally looked up, her heart jump and she dropped both cups of lemonade to the ground. Lilly was no longer sitting at the table.


	5. Chapter 5

Miley's first reaction was to pull out her phone and press the #2 speed dial to call Lilly's cell. She stood at the table where she had left Lilly and tried to calm herself as she listened to the ringing in her ear, hoping and praying that there would be an answer.

To her dissatisfaction, the phone went to voicemail after a series of rings. Miley had heard the recorded greeting more than enough times to have memorized it, but this was the first time that hearing it had caused her stomach to lurch in a panic.

_Hey! It's Lilly's voicemail! Leave a message and I'll try and get back to you as soon as I can, but I'm not making any promises! _

There was a pause and then a beep.

"Lilly!" Miley knew her voice was frantic and worried, "Where are you? Call me back, I'm starting to freak out! It's Miley..." She habitually said her name, though she knew Lilly would know who it was her even if she hadn't. Aggravated, she didn't know what else to say and hung up the phone.

Almost immediately as the call was over, she dialed #3 on her speed dial to try and get a hold of Oliver. It rang a few times, and to Miley's relief, Oliver answered.

"Hey Miley," He greeted. "What's up? Where you at?"

Miley wasted no time getting to the point. "Is Lilly with you?"

There was a strained pause over the phone. "Lilly?" Oliver sounded confused. "No, she's not. I thought she was with you."

"She was," Miley blurted out, frustrated. "I turned around to get us some lemonade for like, 2 minutes, and then she was gone. Is David still with you?"

"Yeah, he's here," Oliver spoke slowly, mostly to try to calm Miley down. "She might've gone to the bathroom or something. Did you try calling her?"

Miley was growing more and more anxious by the second. "Yes, and she didn't pick up."

"Okay. Well, we'll look around and see if we can find her. Keep trying to call her, she might pick up eventually. If we have to we'll ask someone up front to help us." Oliver was starting to sound worried now. He realized how out of character this was for Lilly. Especially when Miley had been with her.

Miley exhaled slowly. "Okay. I'll start looking too. Call me right away if you find her." She lowered her voice. "Keep your eye on David at all times."

"Will do." Oliver tried to sound nonchalant. "We'll find her, don't worry, Miles."

"Yeah," Miley didn't sound relieved. "Keep me updated. Talk to you soon."

They both hung up.

David turned to Oliver after listening in on what he could hear of the conversation. "What's up? Something wrong?"

"Ah, I don't think it's anything seriously life threatening.. Miley can't find Lilly, she said she just disappeared." Oliver was trying to assume the best, for his own sanity. "Hopefully she just stepped away for a minute and will be right back, but we should look around just in case."

David arched his eyebrows with an intrigued expression. "Oh? Huh, that's weird. I wonder where she went off to. Guess we should start investigating."

Oliver nodded and the two of them set off.

Miley tried calling Lilly again as she began walking around the garden and looking for her. She got the same voicemail greeting.

"Lilly, it's Miley. We're all looking for you, so if you get this please call me back." Miley hung up. She was very aware of the tremor in her voice but there was nothing she could do to change that.

After briskly walking around the main entrance and scanning the face of every person she saw, Miley made her way to the garden, hoping to have more luck there. The aroma of flowers that drifted to her nose was able to calm her after a few moments, and she slowed her pace, knowing that rushing around wasn't going to find Lilly any faster.

Miley decided it would be in her best interests to take a minute to calm her racing mind in order to think. Lilly had to be somewhere, she knew that she wouldn't have left by herself. After finding a spot in the shade next to the large body of water that stretched across the garden, Miley closed her eyes, focused on her breathing, and trusted her senses. In her head and her heart, she called out to Lilly silently.

Several minutes passed, and Miley felt that she had cleared her head enough to start looking again. A strong sudden urge led her towards the bronze statue of a man sitting against the rocks near the front. She couldn't see anyone by it, but she hadn't looked on the other side. Something was telling her she was close, and with every step she became more and more confidant that she would find Lilly there. Miley decided not to question what was causing this strange phenomenon at this time. It would be something she could think about later, once she knew Lilly was safe.

As she approached the statue, Miley continued to walk right past it, and even before she saw Lilly, she knew she was there. Once Miley did actually physically see Lilly sitting, ironically almost imitating the statue, her heart did cartwheels of joy and relief. Lilly didn't seem to see Miley, her head was down and seemed to be deep in thought. Miley made sure to move slowly, so she wouldn't surprise her. Lilly still wasn't looking up, so Miley decided to carefully sit down beside her.

Finally, as Miley's leg brushed against Lilly's, Lilly looked up and saw Miley beside her. She appeared slightly surprised, but was unable to say anything and looked back down at her feet.

"Hey Lil," Miley could sense something was obviously troubling her. "You had us all worried. We didn't know where you went and you weren't picking up your phone,"

"Sorry," Was all that Lilly could manage to say.

Miley glanced over at her. The look on Lilly's face made her almost want to cry.

"Are you okay?" Miley scooted closer so that their knees were touching and reached to hold Lilly's hand. "What's going on? Talk to me."

Lilly exhaled shakily, seemingly overcome with a sudden wave of emotion. She took a moment to steady herself. Miley could feel Lilly's emotions jumping all over the place and gave her hand a squeeze. Lilly sighed and relaxed enough to allow herself to lean into Miley a bit more.

"I'm sorry, Miles," There were already hints of tears in her voice, but she was doing her best to fight them away. "I'm really sorry."

Miley frowned, seeing how hard Lilly was trying not to cry. "Why are you sorry, Lil? What's wrong?"

"I didn't think coming here would be this hard." Lilly closed her eyes, causing a tear to escape and roll down her cheek. Miley watched the teardrop fall from Lilly's chin and land just inches away from their intertwined hands.

"Why is it hard, Lilly?" Miley wasn't sure she understood what was troubling Lilly so much, and needed to know what she could do to help. "Is it because of David?"

Lilly shook her head before sighing heavily and finally allowed herself to bury her face into Miley's shoulder. Miley's strong, familiar scent surrounded her and she instantly felt safe. "I was really little. My parents were still together, but things were starting to get ugly between them. I didn't understand any of it at the time, I just thought they were fighting a lot,"

Lilly paused to take another deep breath. Miley stroked Lilly's hand with her thumb in attempts to comfort her. "We came here one day, and it was the last time I can remember being with them together, as a family. They were already arguing in the car on the way here, and it just got worse when we got here. They started yelling at each other in the middle of the museum. I started crying and ran away. I sat here for hours, until they finally realized I was gone. My mom blamed my dad for losing track of me, and my dad said it was her fault for making a scene in the first place. My dad slept on the couch that night, and then the next day, he was already moving out."

As Lilly finished talking, Miley could tell she was much more upset than she was letting on by the way her hands shook.

"You could have said something," Miley spoke softly, "About coming here, I mean. We could have found something else to do. If I had known, I never would have suggested coming here in the first place."

"It's okay, Miles," Lilly seemed exhausted but she was starting to relax. "I thought it wouldn't be such a big deal, but with everything that's been going on with David visiting, I just got freaked out as soon as we got here. I didn't mean to scare you by disappearing but I was starting to get flashbacks of that day and I didn't want to freak out in front of everyone."

Miley sighed and leaned her head to rest on Lilly's. "You scared the shit out of me, I'm not going to lie. I was scared something had happened with David."

A look of guilt crossed Lilly's face "I'm so sorry, Miley."

Miley hated seeing Lilly so distraught. "It's okay, Lil, really. Next time, can you just try telling me when something's going on? I'd like to try and help however I can."

Lilly nodded weakly. "I will. I'm sorry, I just didn't know what to do."

"As long as you're okay, everything's fine," Miley pressed her lips to the top of Lilly's head.

"Hey, lookie there!" A voice startled them and they looked up to find Oliver and David standing in front of them.

"You found her!" Oliver seemed relieved, but noticed the mood was not a happy one. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Miley felt Lilly pulling away and noticed her discomfort when her eyes darted in David's direction. "Just some bad vibes here. I was thinking we could leave soon?"

Oliver nodded. "Sure! Is there anywhere else we wanna go?"

"I'm getting kinda hungry," David stated, looking pretty annoyed for whatever reason.

"Why don't we get some food and find a good place to chill out?" Oliver suggested. "We've had a lot happen in the last few days, so I'm totally down for taking in easy. I think there's a mini carnival starting up at Rico's tonight, we could swing by there. It's nothing fancy but there'll be some game booths and a ferris wheel at least. Rico's been bragging about it all week."

"Anywhere where there's food," David answered curtly.

Miley could tell he was getting fed up with things not going the way he wanted them to. The tone in his voice almost scared her, and she noticed Lilly flinch.

"Does that sound good to you, Lil?" She wanted to make sure Lilly was up for it, though she wasn't certain Lilly would be able to respond honestly now that David was standing there.

"Y-yeah, sounds good," She wasn't convincing at all.

Before Miley could think of something to say, Oliver spoke."Alright then, let's get going,"

They all started walking towards the exit in silence, making their way to the car. Once they got out into the parking lot, the four of them took their designated seats. The air was thick with tension, and finally Oliver attempted to break the awkward silence.

"So what'd everybody think of the exhibit?" He spoke without directing his attention away from the road in front of him.

Miley found herself jumping to answer. Her mind was jumbled, and any chance to distract herself was exactly what she needed. "I liked it. I didn't see all of the art and sculptures, but a guy who worked there told me a myth about Aphrodite..." She trailed off as she remembered his tale.

After a short pause, she realized she wasn't in any mental state to sum it up to them on the spot, and fumbled for a way to finish her thought. "The entire mythology behind it was just really strong. It made me realize just how complicated it would be to be a goddess."

Everyone in the car was kind of confused by what Miley had meant, but Miley didn't really feel up for trying to explain herself. Luckily, Oliver had her back, and tried to keep the conversation going by working with what she'd given him. "Totally, it really opened my eyes about how many myths and legends there are about different gods and goddesses. The garden was badass too."

"The building itself was pretty cool," David decided to try and join their attempts to end the awkwardness. "I read it's suppose to be a replica of some original building."

"Yeah," A silence followed. Oliver glanced in the rear view mirror, noticing how quiet Lilly still was. He caught Miley's worried eye in the mirror as she turned to glance anxiously at Lilly too. Miley looked back into the mirror and gave Oliver a nervous expression when Lilly failed to look anywhere other than out the window. "I'm pretty excited about the ferris wheel. It's been a long time since I've been on one. I bet we'll get to see a great view at the top."

David seemed to be in a better mood all of a sudden. "You guys ever hear that saying if you kiss someone at the top of a ferris wheel you'll be together with that person forever?"

Miley's glared in David's direction. She couldn't believe how obvious he was, or how he managed to piss her off anytime he opened his mouth. She glanced over at Lilly again who shifted where she sat, uncomfortable from David's question.

"I've heard something like that." Oliver nodded briefly. "Those kind of things are usually just old wives tales, but you gotta admit, it sounds pretty romantic."

"Yeah. Makes you wonder how many times it actually ends up working for the people who try it." David didn't bother to hide the grin on his face.

Miley rolled her eyes. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. Luckily, they had arrived, and were pulling into the parking lot. Oliver found a place to park, and they all got out of the car.

"I'll go buy the wristbands passes for the rides." Oliver said as he shut his car door and locked the car up. "You guys wanna go stake out what kind of food to get?"

Miley nodded. "Okay. You want me to chip in some money for the wristbands?"

"Naw, it's cool." Oliver grinned. "My treat."

Miley smiled, remembering how grateful she was to Oliver for everything he'd been doing. "Thanks, Oliver. We'll meet you in the food court then."

"Sounds good." With that, Oliver smiled and walked over to get in line.

After an awkward pause, Miley, Lilly, and David walked over to where the food stands were.

"So," Miley said as they all three stopped to look around. "What looks good?" She was mostly talking to Lilly. She could care less about what David wanted.

David, of course, was first to answer. "Those chilidogs look tasty. I'll probably get one of those."

Miley looked at Lilly, who still seemed uncomfortable. Lilly realized that Miley was waiting for an answer and she cleared her throat awkwardly. "I'm not that hungry yet. I'll get something later."

Miley frowned, giving Lilly a look that let her know how worried she was. "Are you sure? We can share something if you want."

"It's okay." Lilly tried to reassure Miley she was fine, but her body language said otherwise. "Don't worry, I'll eat in a little bit."

Sighing Miley decided not to make a big deal about it, as long as she made sure that Lilly got something in her stomach eventually. "Okay. I know Oliver always gets a chilidog when he come to these things, so I might as well get one too. Can you go grab us a table, Lil?" Miley wouldn't have asked Lilly to do this unless she had seen Oliver buying the wristbands from across the food court. She knew he would be there soon, and that David wouldn't have a chance for any sort of funny business. She had the strong feeling that she wanted Lilly to sit down, based on how drained Lilly looked.

"Yeah," Lilly answered after a brief panic that Miley was able to read on her face.

"Thanks," Miley was hit with guilt, and immediately regretted asking Lilly to do this. She could see Oliver on his way over, and knew it would be okay. As Lilly turned to leave, David followed her towards the tables. Apparently, Miley was in charge of buying his food. She didn't mind getting Oliver's, but the way David assumed she would get his too make her blood boil.

Sighing, Miley got in line and made sure to glance over at Lilly and David every few seconds. By the time she saw them sit down at a table, Lilly looked terrified, and David was saying something to her. He leaned forward over the table, and looked like he was trying to be secretive with whatever he was saying. She saw Lilly nod, obviously panicked, and wished she knew what he had said to her. Just as David sat back in his chair, Oliver approached and joined them at the table.

"What can I get you?" The voice surprised Miley, she turned around to face the food stand and realized she was next. She ordered 3 chilidogs, paid, and then brought them over to the table.

Oliver had left the seat on the other side of Lilly open for Miley when he saw that David had already claimed his seat next to Lilly. He was the first to look at Miley as she sat down, due to the fact that Lilly seemed petrified from having David next to her. Miley gave Oliver an aggravated look that was easily interpreted as discomfort about David.

"Thanks for getting the food, Miles," Oliver smiled sheepishly, unsure of how else to address the tension that both Miley and he knew was going on.

Miley set the chilidogs down on the table and David and Oliver took theirs. "No problem. It's the least I could do with you buying the wristbands." She glanced at Lilly again, finding herself in an equal loss of what to do.

"You're not eating, Lil?" Oliver said after taking a bite of his food.

Lilly shook her head. "Not right now. I'm not hungry. I will later."

Another exchange of worried looks between Miley and Oliver occurred, and they sat in silence as they finished eating.

Oliver stood up once everyone was done and collected the trash. "I'll go throw these away. You guys wanna go check out the game booths?"

"Sure," Miley blinked, after no one else offered to answered. "We'll meet you by the ring toss."

Miley stood up from the table. Lilly looked at her, and then stood up as well. David waited until Lilly had moved to decide to follow. Oliver took off towards the trash cans, and Miley led Lilly and David to the game booths.

"Step right up! Give it a toss!" The man behind the booth grinned as they approached. "Get a ring on the pin and win!"

"I'll give it a try," David spoke up and stepped up to the booth. The man handed him three rings and David took a minute to aim. He tossed the first ring and missed. Grunting in slight frustration, he tried again, and missed. At that point he gave up and didn't even aim when he threw the third ring.

"So close!" The man turned to Miley and Lilly who closely stood next to each other. "Would either of your girls like to try?"

Miley looked at Lilly. "Do you want to try Lil?"

Lilly shook her head and didn't say anything. She still looked on edge.

Miley frowned, but her eyes rested on a stuffed rabbit with hearts sitting on the second shelve in the booth. "I'll try, just for the heck of it."

David moved out of the way and Miley stepped up to take three rings from the man. She tossed the first one without even thinking about it and to her surprise hooked the ring around one of the pins.

"Nice! You already got your pick of prizes on the bottom shelf. Make one more and you get your pick from the second shelf."

Miley was still surprised she had made the first one, but now she was determined and took a minute to concentrate. She tossed the second ring and just barely missed.

"You can do it! One more shot!" The man at the booth encouraged her.

Miley paused and took a deep breath. She tossed the third ring and made it.

"Alright!" The man at the booth collected the rings. "You can choose anything on the second shelf!"

"I'll take the rabbit with hearts on it." Miley pointed.

The man grabbed the rabbit down with a smile and handed it to her. "Here you go!"

Miley couldn't help but smile to herself. She turned to face Lilly and David, but when she did, she didn't see either of them standing behind her. She turned back to the man behind the booth, unable to hide her panicked expression. "Did you see where my friends went?"

The man frowned and shook his head. "No, I wasn't watching. Sorry. They're probably not far."

Miley held the stuffed rabbit in her arms tightly and tried not to look anxious. "Okay. Well, thank you!" She walked away, frantically scanning the crowd for a sign of Lilly and David.

"Miley!" Miley turned and saw Oliver jogging towards her. His eyes rested on the rabbit she clung to. "Nice, you won something, huh?"

"Y-yeah," Miley said nervously.

Oliver glanced around, noticing something wasn't right. "Wait, where's Lilly and David?" He saw the expression on Miley's face become more worried as soon as he asked this.

"I-I don't know, when I turned around from the booth, they were gone." She was starting to cry. Fear and panic overwhelmed her and she hugged the stuffed animal tighter. "I wasn't even turned around for more than a minute!"

Oliver looked incredibly anxious upon hearing this news as well. "Dammit. Okay. I'll try calling Lilly, let's walk around and try to find them."

Miley wiped a tear away from each cheek and nodded.

David had guided Lilly away by grabbing the hand while Miley was turned around and started leading her away, quietly. He kept a quick pace, trying to get as much distance from Miley and Oliver as possible. Lilly said nothing, completely petrified with fear. Her hand hung limply in David's tight grasp.

Once David thought they were in the clear, he slowed down, but he still didn't let go of Lilly's hand. "That was a rush! I thought we were never going to get a chance to ditch them." He turned to Lilly and grinned. Lilly glanced at him briefly and made a small noise with her throat. Her voice wasn't working.

"So, let's head over to the ferris wheel. I really want to ride it with you." David let go of Lilly's hand, just to put his arm around her as they walked. Lilly wanted to cry, to scream, to run away. Her body seemed to be on autopilot, and she had no control over getting away from David.

David held Lilly as close to his body as he could. Lilly simply stared down at the ground. There was nothing else she could do.

After walking for a few minutes, they reached the line for the ferris wheel. David stopped at the end of the line, still holding Lilly with his arm. "Almost there!" He sang.

It took a few more minutes until they were at the front of the line. David made sure to glance around and make sure Miley or Oliver weren't getting close.

"What a cute couple!" the woman in charge of the ride smiled as they stepped up to get into the box. Lilly tried to give her a desperate look, but it went unnoticed. "Make sure not to rock your carriage, and to be safe!" She shut the door behind them once they were inside.

David led Lilly to sit down. His arm was still around her. As the carriage started to move, they rocked a little and David tightened his grasp around her. "We better hold on!" He was noticeably excited.

As they rose higher on the ferris wheel, the ground became further and further away. The higher they got, the more Lilly started to panic. They would be at the top soon. She had a pretty good idea what that meant.

Suddenly, without warning, David jerked her towards him, forgetting her hurt shoulder, and pressed his wet lips against hers. Lilly cringed in pain and displeasure but was too overcome by fear to try and get away.

David continued the kiss, becoming more heated as they continued rising to the top. He slipped his hands beneath the waist of Lilly's pants and under her underwear. Lilly was completely frozen now. Nothing could save her from this situation now, and she knew this. A tear fell from her eye as she gazed out the window down at the carnival below where she knew Miley and Oliver were probably frantically looking for her.

David began roughly pressing his hands deeper into Lilly's pants, undoing the button and zipper while still kissing her sloppily. He grabbed her ass and squeezed it, pressing himself against her. Lilly felt sick.

Down below on the ground, Miley had a strong gut feeling something horrible was happening. She struggled to remain calm, still hugging the rabbit in her arms, as Oliver and she briskly walked towards the ferris wheel. It was predictable that David had taken her there.

Once they had reached the ferris wheel, Miley gazed up at it, searching each box for a sign of the two. It was too far up for her to see anything clearly.

"Should we hang here for a minute and see if they come off?" Oliver sounded nervous, and Miley cringed, knowing that if they were already on it, Lilly was in danger. Unfortunately, she was almost certain that that was the case.

Like clockwork, the ferris wheel rotated, and stopped to open the doors for the people inside each carriage to exit, and then let others on. Miley's heart sank as she saw David step out of the opening doors with a content grin on his face.

As Lilly stepped out from behind David, Miley's heart might as well have been shattered into pieces when she saw the expression on her face.

"There they are." Oliver didn't like how the situation felt, but didn't know what to do. As soon as he spoke, Miley found herself moving without even thinking. She walked towards David and Lilly with aggravation painted on her face and tears threatening to pour from her eyes.

David saw Miley first, Miley could see him shift nervously. She glared at him as she approached, and he almost looked frightened. Miley coldly walked past him without saying a word, it was then that Lilly looked up to see Miley.

Lilly face was wracked with emotion that looked ready to burst. Her tears were evident, even if they weren't visible. She didn't know how to respond when she locked eyes with Miley, who she could tell was obviously upset as well.

Still, without saying a single word, Miley grabbed Lilly's wrist and pulled her back towards the line for the ferris wheel. There was no line at that time, and she briskly walked on through into the carriage with Lilly behind her after flashing the woman in charge of the ride the wristbands.

The woman (not to mention David and Oliver) was left confused by the strange nature of these actions, but she shut the door behind them and started the ride.

Miley sat down, bringing Lilly with her, and they both waited for the ride to move as tension and silence hung in the air. Miley realized she was still holding Lilly's wrist tightly, and finally let go, suddenly realizing her actions.

Lilly began to weep quietly as the ride got higher and higher, burying her face in her hands. Miley was finding it difficult to say or do anything due to her heightened emotions. She pressed her lips together and inhaled deeply through her nose, knowing she had to calm herself. She reached to gently rest her hand on Lilly's thigh.

"Lilly?" Her voice shook. "Are you okay?"

Lilly stifled a sob, trying to fight her tears and fell into Miley's arms. Miley tried not to panic and scooped Lilly up as she cried. The weight behind Lilly's reaction led Miley to believe something horrible had indeed happened.

"I- he- I couldn't-!" Lilly tried tot speak but her sobs were too great. She wailed as she clung to Miley. Miley's head was painting a devastating picture of what might have happened. She was really read to kill David now.

"Shhh," Miley tried to lull Lilly as well as herself into a calm state as she rocked her back and forth. "Just breathe." She didn't want to push Lilly to answer about what had happened right now. Lilly was far too upset.

Lilly sniffed and moaned through her tears. The stuffed rabbit, which Miley had carried with her all this time was already stained wet.

"I'm so sorry, Lilly," Miley was starting to cry now too. "I shouldn't have turned around. I didn't think he would do something like that. I'm so sorry." She hugged Lilly closer as her own tears fell onto the rabbit.

Lilly inhaled sharply, still trying to subside her sobs. "It's not y-your fault." She managed to get out that much of a sentence.

"Did he hurt you?" Miley didn't want to be too specific with her question, mostly because she didn't know if she could handle details at the moment.

Lilly flinched remembering what had happened with David. "H-he just started kissing me, and p-putting his hands down my pants... and..."

Miley exhaled heavily, trying not to explode in anger. "That piece of shit. I'm so done with dealing with him. He's not getting off easy this time, this is too much!"

Unable to speak again, Lilly shook her head and tried to catch her breath. A silence hung as both girl worked on calming their emotions. After a few moments, Lilly had mostly stopped crying and sat up a bit. She felt safe now, with Miley. She could leave the realities that waited for her on the ground behind until the ride was over.

"Look," Miley's voice was soft. She still held Lilly lovingly in her arms. "We're almost at the top."

They both gazed out at the horizon, emotionally drained and exhausted. After a few moment of this, Miley cleared her throat. Her thoughts seemed uncontrollable at this point.

"Hey Lilly?" She sat up a bit, and Lilly did too in order to look at Miley.

"Yeah?" They held each others gaze, staring into the others eyes. An unspoken conversation was occurring with just their eye contact.

Right as the ferris wheel reached the highest point, Miley felt herself lean forwards and kiss Lilly's lips deeply. Her head was terrified by her actions, but she couldn't stop herself.

Miley's terror almost instantly disappeared as she felt Lilly engage in the kiss and move closer. A wave of excitement and arousal rushed through Miley head, and she felt the same emanating from Lilly as they both wrapped their arms around each other. Their heartbeats throbbed in their chests.

After a few more moments of this, they simultaneously pulled away, out of breath and blushing as they stared into each others eyes. Both of them were trying to figure out how the other one felt after experiencing that.

"J-just in case," Miley nervously blurted out. "I don't want you ending up with him forever because of some stupid old wives tale." She didn't know what she was saying, or why she said it that way. She started kicking herself in her head for making it sound like it was nothing, but to her relief, Lilly rested her head on Miley's shoulder and snuggled closer.

"Th-thanks," Lilly sounded just as tormented about how to express what she had just felt.

Sighing, Miley told herself to just relax and focus on holding Lilly in her arms. She knew they would soon be back on the ground, and had no idea what was going to happen, or if she was going to keep her cool around David.

Lilly sighed too as she closed her eyes and scooted closer into Miley arms. Miley could tell that Lilly was thinking of the same anxieties that waited for them on the ground. They mutually decided, without using words, to just enjoy the safety and warmth they had with each other at that moment until the ride was over.


	6. Chapter 6

As the ferris wheel slowly wheeled its way back to the ground, Miley didn't want the ride to ever end. Partly because she was alone with Lilly, and partly because she knew they had to deal with David once they stepped foot back on the ground.

The girls stayed close together, until their carriage was the next to be let out. Each of their actions seemed reluctant as they scooted away and prepared to face the world again. When the doors opened, Miley stood, glancing back at Lilly one last time, trying to let her know everything was going to be okay. Lilly still looked nervous.

As Miley exited the ride, with Lilly close behind her, she immediately saw David and Oliver right where they had left them. The two boys still looked confused.

Miley cleared her throat as she approached them, trying not to even look in David's direction for fear she would become too hostile. "That was fun. So, are we ready to head back? I'm tired from walking around all day."

Oliver blinked, and David seemed nervous, or at least unsettled.

After looking from the completely fed up Miley, to the emotionally fragile Lilly, Oliver nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm all set. I don't think there's much left to do here, we might as well head back to Lilly's. Maybe we can just chill for a bit before calling it a night."

Oliver turned with raised eyebrows to David.

"Sound good, Dave?"

David answered with no hesitation. "Yeah I'm ready to leave." He looked at Miley with a heated glance. Miley returned it with a stoic glare of her own.

Without another word, the four of them started walking back to the car in an uncomfortable silence. Oliver seemed eager to know what the heck had happened, but he wisely chose not to push for answers.

After what had seemed like hours of walking, they arrived at the parking lot. With a click of his car keys, Oliver unlocked the doors and everyone got in. He started the car when they had all fastened their seatbelts and began backing out of the parking space. Not a word was spoken until they had gotten onto the main road.

"So, did everyone have a good time today?" Oliver's voice sounded doubtful, but he attempted to keep the situation as smooth as possible.

There was a silence, and no one seemed to want to answer.

After the building silence began to feel more awkward, Miley was surprised to hear Lilly speak up. "It was fun, but I think we tried taking on too much today. I'm pretty exhausted."

"Yeah, I feel ya on that one." Oliver agreed. He glanced over at David. "So David, you're leaving tomorrow?"

David answered flatly. "Yeah. My flight's at 3:15. I should get to the airport by 2:00." He was obviously not in a good mood.

"Oh, cool. You don't have to worry about getting up too early, at least." Oliver stared ahead at the road as he spoke. "Is there anything you can think of that you didn't get to do while you were here?"

Miley saw David look at Lilly in the rear view mirror. She crossed her arms to stop herself from kicking the back of his seat.

"Not too much. You guys sure kept me busy." He sounded disgruntled at first, but then a faint smile crossed his lips. "I got a good idea how to wrap up my last night here, though."

Miley glared at the back of David's direction. She did not like where he was going in his head.

"Yeah? What's your idea?" Oliver glanced in the mirror back at Miley. He could feel her animosity radiating from back seat without even having to look at her.

David grinned, and there was something behind his smile that made Miley sure she would have to be on her toes to make sure he didn't accomplish whatever it was he was grinning about.

"You'll all have to wait and see once we get back. Don't worry it'll be a blast!" He was obviously in a better mood suddenly, and it worried everyone else in the car. No one knew how to respond. The rest of the ride was silent. Miley saw that David's grin didn't fade. She could tell he was plotting something in his mind. It made her skin crawl.

Lilly reached over and shyly tugged on Miley's sleeve. Miley blinked in surprise and turned to look at Lilly. She realized how frightened Lilly looked, and frowned. Taking a deep breath, she tried not to let a tear escape and gently grasped Lilly's fingers in her own. She stroked the top of Lilly's hand lovingly with her thumb and prayed that everything would be alright.

As Oliver pulled into the driveway, David almost didn't wait until the car was off to unbuckle his seatbelt and open the door. By the time everyone else had exited the car, he was already eagerly standing closest to the door.

"What are we waiting for? You guys ready for some fun?" He was still grinning from ear to ear, nearly bouncing up and down where he stood.

Oliver and Miley exchanged worried glances, and Oliver finally shrugged. They both looked back at Lilly who seemed most anxious about entering her own house. She sighed and nodded to them both, and they started to make their way inside.

David briskly rushed in through the door as soon as Lilly had unlocked it. He disappeared into the kitchen before the others had stepped inside.

"Miley," Oliver lowered his voice so that David wouldn't hear, "Should I be worried? You think he's up to no good?"

Miley gave Oliver an obvious "Duh!" look. "What do you think?"

Oliver sighed and looked from Miley to Lilly. Lilly looked anxious, and Miley, strained.

"It'll be fine. I dont think he ever means any harm, we just gotta keep an eye out, right?" He did his best to continued to remain positive.

"Yeah," Miley sighed, sounding unconvinced. "I will be so glad when we don't have to deal with this shit anymore."

Miley paused and looked at Lilly. Lilly didn't seem to know how to speak at the moment. Or at least she didn't have anything to say. Miley could read her face, and didn't need to hear words to understand how terrified she was. She found herself stepping closer towards Lilly and wrapping her arms around her to pull her into a hug.

Lilly returned the hug and tried no to tremble, but Miley could feel her shaking, holding back her emotions. Oliver watched with a solemn look on his face, not knowing how to help.

The hug lasted until Lilly felt a large wet tear roll down her cheek and pulled away, sniffling. She looked up at Miley and wiped the tear away as she took a trembling inhale. Miley smiled sadly and squeezed Lilly's hand.

"Everything is going to be okay." She wished she could believe her own words.

Just then, David returned, holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand. He was still smiling. "Shots, anyone?"

There was a shocked silence as they all stared at him, then Oliver cleared his throat. "Where'd the heck did you get that? Do they let you fly with alcohol in your carry-on these days?"

David shook his head. "Naw, it's from the house. I spotted it in the cabinet yesterday. There's more than enough in here to give us all a good buzz and not make it obvious that we had some. What do you think? You guys down? It'll be fun! Give us a good chance to unwind."

Another brief silence passed. Miley stood with her arms crossed. The words Lilly had said when she told Miley about her visit to her fathers, when David had sex with her, rang in her head. _"He brought out some alcohol...and...I don't know, it was weird. He started acting funny and grabbing me and stuff." _

Oliver turned and looked at Miley and Lilly. Neither of them knew what to do. Miley seemed unable to find any words, and Lilly was completely speechless as well.

"Um," Oliver shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. As long as nothing gets too crazy."

David smiled and slapped Oliver on the back with his free hand. "That's the spirit! Come on, help me find some shot glasses. We'll need one for each of us. Why don't you girls get comfortable in the living room?"

Miley could do nothing else but nod. Oliver followed David into the kitchen, giving the girls a semi-reassuring glance as he left.

Miley sighed, and turned to Lilly, taking her by the hand. "It'll all be okay. I promise." Her own words sounded empty to her, but Lilly nodded and Miley led her into the living room, still grasping her hand.

They sat down on the couch, and Lilly made sure to sit as close Miley as she could. Miley gave Lilly's arm a squeeze and turned to briefly kiss Lilly's forehead in attempts to comfort her. They waited, unable to think of what to say. Instead they relied on the comfort the other gave them and prepared themselves.

"Alright!" David's voice boomed as he entered the room, still clutching the bottle in his hand. Oliver followed behind him holding four shot glasses, and looking a little out of his element. "Let's get started!"

David waited until Oliver set the glasses down on the table in a row before he unscrewed the cap. A strong musky smell drifted from the bottle as he filled each shot glass up to the top.

Miley inhaled deeply, feeling her own dread rising. She tried exhaling as quietly as she could and stared at the whiskey filled glasses in front of her.

"Here you are, ladies!" She felt Lilly flinch beside her when David lifted a glass in each hand and offered it to the two of them. Sighing, Miley took it, and Lilly reluctantly did the same.

With that, David handed a shot to Oliver, and then picked up the last remaining glass for himself. He was still grinning as he raised his glass. "Okay! Here's to all of you showing me such a great time! Cheers!"

"Cheers." A much less enthusiastic chorus responded. They lifted their glasses to clink them together. Drops of whiskey spilled over the rims of the glass.

David was the first to immediately down his shot like it was nothing. Miley stopped herself from sighing. In her head she said, _"Fuck it." _And downed her shot as well, leaving Lilly and Oliver holding their shots awkwardly. The whiskey burned her throat with a tingling sensation, and she tried not make a sour face.

After exchanging nervous glances, Oliver and Lilly did the same.

"Woo!" David shouted, startling everyone. "That's more like it!"

Both Oliver and he were still standing across from the girls seated on the couch. David filled the shot glasses again while everyone was still figuring out how they felt. When he was done, he grabbed his own and walked around the table to sit down on the couch next to Lilly. Lilly practically jumped out of her skin, and Miley eyed him cautiously. Oliver took a seat in the la-z-boy chair next to the fully occupied couch.

"Ahhh," David slouched into the couch and kicked off his shoes with his feet. "That's more like it. Nothing like some booze to take the edge off of things." He turned his head and glanced at Lilly. Miley could see the gears in his head start turning from the expression on his face. She had mere seconds to distract him.

"Cheers!" Miley lifted her shot up into the air, surprising Lilly and Oliver who looked at her in disbelief.

David grinned and clinked his shot to hers. "There you go! That's how to do it!"

They both threw back another shot. Miley didn't know if it was the anxiety or the alcohol that was causing her heart to beat so fast. Her body was already feeling warm and fuzzy and her head was more than a little clouded. She set her empty shot glass down on the table and looked up to notice that Lilly and Oliver had finished their 2nd shots as well.

Miley's eyes rested on Lilly and she bit down on her lower lip as a tidal wave of emotion toward her friend swept through her. Her eyes drifted to David, who sat next to Lilly. His hand was subtlely caressing Lilly's thigh. Miley was about to explode into a rage, but before she could, David sat up to grab the bottle of whiskey and refilled all the glasses. As he was doing this, Miley tried to get Lilly to look at her without drawing attention to herself. Lilly seemed too overwhelmed to even lift her gaze from in front of her.

As David finished pouring, he held up the bottle and frowned. "That's as much as we should take from this bottle. Any more and it'd look suspicious. Too bad, we were just getting started." He picked up his shot and downed it.

Oliver spoke after taking David's lead and grabbing his shot too. He was obviously feeling pretty good. "I got a buddy within walking distance who might be willing to pick us up something small."

"Yeah?" David raised his eyebrows. "That'd be cool. Just a little something to get us the rest of the way. Want me to go with you?"

"Sure" Oliver shrugged with a goofy smile. "It's just a 10 minutes walk up the road."

David bent down to put on his shoes. While doing so, Oliver finished his shot and started making sure he had everything he needed. Both boys stood up, ready to leave.

"We'll be right back ladies!" David winked, mostly at Lilly. "Don't have too much fun while we're gone!"

With that the boys walked to the door and exited the house, leaving the two girls on the couch with their untouched shots in front of them. Neither Miley or Lilly moved until they could no longer hear the drunken laughter coming from outside.

Finally, Lilly sighed, and picked up the shot from the table. She stared at it in her hands.

"We don't have to drink it." Miley assured her, watching Lilly closely. "We could just pour it out in the sink. They wouldn't even know."

Lilly shook her head. "I don't think it makes a difference at this point. Her voice had a defeated tone to it.

Miley watched as Lilly took the shot and set it down on the table. Sighing, she did the same, and almost simultaneously, they sank back into the couch.

A silence filled the air, with the exception of the ticking clock in the kitchen. Miley frowned and grasped Lilly's hand in hers. The two were both leaning into the other, nearly in each others arms. They just sort of fell together that way.

"Are you doing okay?" Miley asked nervously, unable to take her eyes off of their intertwined hands.

Lilly hesitated, seeming to have difficulty answering. "I guess. I think so. I don't know."

Miley frowned. "Home stretch. After tonight, he's gone and we wont have to worry." Miley lifted Lilly's hand in hers and kissed it gently. At the exact moment her lips touched Lilly's skin, they both looked to the other, as if a surge of something had jolted through them at the same time.

Lilly cleared her throat and scooted closer to Miley. Miley moved her arms so that she could wrap them around Lilly and pull her close, so that her back was resting on Miley's stomach. Lilly rested her hands over Miley's, which held her tightly.

Both girls felt like they had butterflies in their stomachs. Miley took a deep breath and tried to relax. She kissed the top of Lilly's hair and then rested her cheek on Lilly's head.

"I won't let him hurt you. I promise." The words just seemed to flow out of Miley's mouth. She couldn't quite interpret the emotion she heard waver in her voice.

Lilly sighed, and neither of them moved for a few moments. Then, in one fluid motion, Lilly sat up slightly to turn around and repositioned herself so that she was laying in Miley's arms, with her head resting on Miley's chest.

Miley swallowed anxiously as she stroked Lilly's hair with her hands. She could feel Lilly's exhaling breath on her skin. Slowly, Lilly lifted her head, and the two gazed into each others eyes, both trying to read the others thoughts.

"Lilly..." Miley spoke slowly, biting down on her lip. She was unable to finish her thought. She couldn't stop herself. Something in Lilly's eyes was enticing her.

Leaning forward after a brief hesitation, Miley lifted Lilly's chin ever so slightly with her hand. When Lilly didn't show any intention of pulling away, Miley took her chance and caught Lilly by the lips with her own.

Softly and tenderly, their lips pressed together. Then, after a brief separation, in which both their minds were racing, they pressed their lips together again. This time the kiss was deeper and more heated, as each girl seemed to lose themselves in the passion and warmth of the other.

Miley could taste the whiskey on Lilly's breath. It reminded her that they had been drinking, which had completely escaped her mind at that moment. She found it hard to think of anything else besides kissing Lilly.

As Miley sat up more excitedly, Lilly rose with her. It was only when they were both in the upright position, that their lips finally parted and they gazed back into each others eyes, both out of breath. A tear rolled down Lilly's cheek, and Miley saw it.

"Lilly..." Miley's voice sounded on the verge of tears as well as she wiped the tear away. "What's wrong?" A sudden fear lurched through Miley's mind. Was she putting Lilly in the same situation David had?

Wrapping her arms around Lilly and pulling her close, Miley cursed at herself silently in her head. Lilly inhaled sharply and exhaled into Miley's arms and grasped onto her tightly.

"I'm sorry," Nothing Miley did would make the guilt in her voice subside. "I'm so sorry, Lil. I shouldn't have done that."

Lilly shook her head but was still unable to manage speech. Finally, after swallowing down her tears she lifted her head to kiss Miley again. After pulling away she was able to speak.

"Don't be sorry." There was a faint smile painted on her lips. "It's different, when it's with you. I'm happy."

Miley had to use every ounce of will power she had not to burst into tears. She smiled shyly and hugged Lilly close. "You mean... you want to do things like this with me? You don't have to. I would never force you. I mean, when we were on the ferris wheel, I didn't mean to- "

Lilly saw that Miley was flustered and starting to ramble. She shook her head again and closed her eyes as she exhaled and buried her face into Miley's arms. "I want to. If it's with you. Just you. No one else."

Now Miley was crying, holding Lilly in her arms. She gave up trying to hold back her tears.

Lilly hesitated before saying one last thing. She almost looked sad and scared before she said it. "I love you, Miles."

Miley was overcome with emotion. She didn't know if she had ever smiled or cried like she was now in her entire life. She opened her mouth to say those words back to Lilly, but before she was able to make a single noise, they heard the front door burst open and heard Oliver and David drunkenly laughing as the door shut behind them. They boys had returned.

"Heyyy!" David enter the room with Oliver behind him, just as Miley and Lilly had instinctively separated. Miley was still wiping tears from her eyes as she looked to the boys. David was triumphantly holding a bottle of tequila in one hand and pointing to it with the other. "Check it out! We're in for some fun now!"

Neither of the boys noticed the strange atmosphere in the room as they walked in and sat down in their places. Lilly folded her arms and crossed her legs defensively as David plopped down on the couch next to her. His sense of boundaries seemed to be lost due to the whiskey earlier, and going on a walk with Oliver seemed to inhibit his respect for the comfort of others even further. Almost immediately he blatantly placed his hand on Lilly's thigh and began to rub up and down her leg.

After glancing over at Oliver to find him already near sleep, his eyes closed, with a goofy smile on his face, Miley cleared her throat. Her eyes stabbed David's hand with a glare. "So are we opening up that bottle, or what?"

David stood up suddenly, as if he had forgotten about the tequila entirely. "Yeah! Definitely!" He fumbled for the shot glasses and after lining them up in a row, he began to unscrew the cap from the bottle. As he poured, he glanced over at Oliver. "Someone might need to give this guy a jolt to keep him up."

"Ollie's always been a lightweight. I'm surprised he made it this far. Usually he's passed out by the first shot." Miley glanced over at Lilly who still hadn't moved from her guarded position. Lilly was biting down on her bottom lip and staring at her feet, looking as if she was trying not to look upset. "Just leave him be for now, he'll usually wake up after a half hour and be ready for more."

David shrugged as he finished pouring tequila into the third shot glass. "If you say so." He lifted a glass in each hand and handed one to each of the girls before grabbing his own and sitting back on the couch. "Bottoms up, ladies!" He threw his head back and gulped down the drink, exhaling loudly and shivering as he slammed the empty glass on the table. Miley and Lilly exchanged nervous glances and then took their shots.

After setting her empty shot glass on the table, Miley slumped back into the couch. She didn't think any more alcohol would be a good idea. Her mind was already fuzzy. Looking at Lilly, Miley knew Lilly was thinking the same thing. Then, Miley remembered something that made her stand up from the couch with alarm.

"Lilly!" Lilly looked up, confused by Miley's sudden outburst. "You still haven't eaten! Do you want me to go fix you something?"

Lilly shook her head and shrugged. "It's okay, Miles, you don't have to. I'll get something in a little bit."

Miley frowned. "No, I'll go make you something to eat. You shouldn't be drinking on an empty stomach anyway. It'll just take a second."

Miley found her legs, and most likely the tequila, carrying her to the kitchen. She was internally arguing with herself as she walked, telling herself leaving them alone wasn't a good idea at all. Oliver was in there with them, even if he was asleep, and she would only be gone a couple minutes. Lilly needed to eat, and that seemed to be a stronger matter at hand to Miley than anything else at the moment. She wondered if she would regret it but hoped for the best.

As she reached the kitchen, Miley stood in front of the sink. Her mind was drawing a blank, and she realized she was much more inebriated than she initially thought.

"Food!" She exclaimed, remembering her reason for coming into the kitchen. "I'm making Lilly some food..."

Miley knew she was in no position to go all out to make a gourmet meal. Time was a factor as well. After listing the potential options in her head, she decided on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich; a simple yet efficient solution.

Fumbling around the kitchen, Miley pulled out two pieces of bread from the bread drawer, and then took several moments to fine the peanut butter and jelly. Nothing seemed to be in the place she remembered it being, but finally, she had all of the ingredients.

As she unscrewed the lid from the jars and grabbed a knife out of the silverware drawer, she began to panic at how quiet it was in the other room. Miley spread the peanut butter on one slice of bread, and the jelly on the other as quickly as she could. Then, she cleaned up her mess and put everything back where she had found it. After pressing the two pieces together, she put the sandwich on a paper plate, and briskly began walking to the other room to make her delivery.

Miley was getting ready to open her mouth to announce she had arrived with Lilly's food, but what she saw rendered her speechless and stopped her in dead in tracks.

David was straddling Lilly on the couch, her shirt, as well as her bra had been removed, and he was pinning both of her arms down with his hands while smashing his lips into hers. Miley saw the pained look on Lilly's face. Her eyes were shut tight and her brow creased with discomfort and turmoil. Miley could see a faint trail of a tear running down Lilly's cheek, and at that point, Miley had had all that she could take. She completely lost her cool.

Without thinking or hesitation, Miley hurled the sandwich, paper plate and all, as hard as she could at David. It hit him in his side and fell to the floor. David, startled, sat up and stared at Miley with a confused and slightly annoyed look on his face. "What the hell?"

Miley was beyond enraged. She stomped towards David and shoved him, trying to get him off of Lilly. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

David was taken aback by the level of Miley's anger. He withdrew away from Lilly a little. "What's your problem? Can't we get some privacy here?"

"My problem?!" Miley was shouting. Oliver stirred from his sleep and began to wake up. Lilly was too terrified to move, she just continued to weep silently. "My problem is, she doesn't want to sleep with you, and you're to stupid to get the hint!"

A silence hung in the air. David stared at Miley in complete shock and confusion, which enraged Miley even more. Oliver, who was now awake and had taken in the situation stood up to try and intervene. "Hey, guys, let's calm down a minute."

Miley turned to Oliver, tears welling up in her eyes. "Get him off of her!" She half demanded, and half pleaded.

Oliver cleared his throat awkwardly. "Dave, I think you should get up, and we should take a minute to chill. We've all been drinking, and-"

"That has nothing to do with it, Oliver, and you know it!" Miley screamed. "He needs to stay away from her! Get him off!"

"Miley," Oliver took a deep breath and attempted to comfort Miley. "Calm down, okay? David, will you get up please?"

David blinked, completely surprised by everything that was going on, but he obeyed and got up off of Lilly as he stood up from the couch.

Miley nearly burst into tears. As soon as Lilly was free, she grabbed her by the arm with one hand and grabbed Lilly's shirt and bra with the other before storming off, leading Lilly into her room and slamming the door shut behind them.

Miley locked the door to Lilly's room and they both stood there for several moments. Miley was choking back tears, and Lilly was crying too.

"Miley?" Lilly lifted her arm from Miley's grasp and moved her hand to hold Miley's in attempts to console her. She was visibly more upset than Lilly was at that moment, and didn't respond right away. "Miley, look at me. Come on, it's okay."

Miley began to sob violently and threw her arms around Lilly. Lilly wrapped her arms around Miley and led her over so they could sit on the bed. Lilly ignored the fact that she was still topless, which Miley seemed temporarily oblivious to.

Lilly was almost at a loss of what to do. She had never seen Miley so upset, except for once when Blue Jeans had gotten sick when they were younger. Lilly did the only thing she could think to do and cradled Miley back and forth soothingly in her arms.

"Miles, hey," Lilly spoke softly. "It's all right."

"No!" Miley sobbed, "No it's not alright! I can't take it anymore! I can't just sit here and watch him do that to you! It's-!"

Miley mind was racing, flashing horrible images in her head of everything David had done to Lilly. She couldn't bring herself to speak at that point.

Lilly was struck with an immense sense of guilt. "I'm so sorry, Miles, it's my fault. All I had to do was tell him no. I didn't think about how it would make you feel when I didn't."

"What about what you just said me!" Miley was still blubbering through her tears. "You said you didn't want to do that kind of stuff with anyone else!"

Lilly blushed, and took a deep breath, ashamed of how she had handled everything with David. "I'm sorry... I don't want to do that kind of stuff with anyone else, just you, but I was scared and being a coward. I didn't mean to hurt you through all of this. I'm the one to blame, more than David. He had no idea I wasn't interested. It's my fault."

"No!" This seemed to make Miley cry even harder. She clung to Lilly, causing them to lower themselves down onto the bed. Her tears were still flowing, wetting Lilly's bare skin. "It's not! It's not all your fault, it's just not!" Miley was unable to express everything she was feeling. She continued to cry until it subsided into a light whimpering. Lilly held Miley lovingly with a saddened look on her face, even once Miley had almost stopped crying.

As things had settled down, and Miley had gotten most of her tears out, they gazed into each other's eyes. Lilly was nearly heartbroken by Miley's red, tear stained eyes. She looked like a frightened child. Lilly tilted her head up and reached to kiss Miley's forehead. Miley inhaled shakily and closed her eyes as she exhaled. When she opened her eyes again, she could still see into Lilly's sad blue eyes. It was only now that she realized that Lilly was still topless.

Without thinking, Miley let herself be led by the strong sexual emotion that suddenly exploded within her as she leaned to catch Lilly's lips in a passionate kiss. Lilly didn't resist and they both melted into each other. Miley began pressing her body up against Lilly's, feeling Lilly's free breasts against her.

Lilly was surprised to find her arms moving on its own, sliding itself up Miley's shirt and gently resting her fingertips against Miley's bare abdomen. Miley's entire body reacted to Lilly's touch and squirmed with anticipation. A brief moan escaped Miley's throat as Lilly's fingertips slowly skimmed up her torso, but stopped at the bottom of her ribs.

Lilly had more of her head together than Miley did at this time, and reluctantly made the decision to stop there. As Miley felt Lilly's hand pull away from her skin, she immediately picked up on Lilly's emotional reasoning. Though she felt equal reluctance, Miley agreed that for now they should stop before they got carried away.

Miley sighed as she cuddled into Lilly's arms, which had returned to embracing her in a comforting warmth, and reached to give Lilly's lips once last quick kiss.

Lilly smiled shyly, and Miley found herself smiling back at her as well. She was still sad, but now as she laid with Lilly in her arms, there was a different level of happiness that no one could take away from her. Her tears began welling up again with a confusing mixture of both of extremes.

"I can't believe you threw a sandwich at him," Lilly laughed, her shy smile turning into a grin.

Miley laughed too, through her simmered down tears. "Me either. I was so angry, I didn't even think, I just acted. I guess I made a pretty big scene, huh? And you didn't even end up getting anything to eat." Miley frowned realizing this.

Lilly's grin showed no falter. "It's okay. I gotta admit, it was worth it, seeing you throw a sandwich at him. There's more food in the house. Plus, after that big scene, I'm pretty sure it'll be a lot easier for me to be honest with him and tell him straight up that I'm not interested in him like that."

"Really?" Miley's face lit up.

"Really." Lilly nodded. "It's all thanks to you, Miles."

Miley could feel her face turning red and her cheeks ached from smiling, but she was happy. She buried her face in Lilly's chest, and couldn't stop smiling. "Do you want me to be with you when you talk to him?"

Lilly thought a moment before answering. "I think it's something I should do by myself. I mean, you and Oliver can be there, but I want to be able to explain and apologize to him."

"Okay..." Things were starting to look up, but Miley still felt uneasy.

Lilly saw Miley's anxiousness and kissed her cheek. "Don't worry about it right now. We can spend a little more time in here, just the two of us."

Miley sighed and closed her eyes, scooting closer into Lilly's arms. A calming silence engulfed the room.

"Hey, Lil?" Miley suddenly opened her eyes and looked up at Lilly.

"Yeah, Miles?"

Miley bit down on her lower lip nervously. "I didn't get to say it back, before... I love you too."

Lilly smiled. "Good." They both leaned in to press their lips together.


End file.
